Did Vermeer use a camera obscura?
As early as 1430, images could be projected using concave mirrors. By 1600, better images could be projected, more simply, using lenses. And then in 1650, the camera obscura projected even better images even more simply. The camera obscura functions as a room-size camera. A dark room contains a small hole (aperture) in one wall. An object is placed outside the dark room and its image is projected onto the back wall of the dark room, where an artist can trace it. Without making any adjustments, the artist traces a complete, accurate, two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional object.
