Did Vermeer apply scientific principles of optics to project Photo on Canvas?
Public records also confirmed that an exact contemporary of Vermeer (in a city of less than 18,000 inhabitants) was Antony van Leeuwenhoek. Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch naturalist who became internationally recognized for his studies in optics and scientific observations and experiments using a “camera obscura”, a forerunner of the modern camera. It is believed that Leeuwenhoek and Vermeer shared an interest in optics and lens grinding and experimented in applying optics to painting. Another contemporary, Christiaan Huygens, became the most renowned mathematician and astronomer of his age. He was also known for lens grinding for telescopes, and it is highly likely that he and Vermeer were well acquainted. Recent work by Professor Philip Steadman, of the Open University in England, has shown how clues in the actual paintings suggest that the Vermeer’s work can be thought of as photographs as much as paintings. This theory does not belittle Vermeer as one of the greatest artists of all time,
