Table of Contents

Introduction
1: The camera obscura
2: The discovery of Vermeer's use of the camera
3: Who taught Vermeer about optics?
4: A room in Vermeer's house?
5: Reconstructing the spaces in Vermeer's paintings
6: The riddle of the Sphinx of Delft
7: More evidence, from rebuilding Vermeer's studio
8: Arguments against Vermeer's use of the camera
9: The influence of the camera on Vermeer's painting style
Appendices
Further Reading
A. Architectural features appearing in Vermeer's interiors
B. Measurements of Vermeer's room and furniture

About the Author

Philip Steadman is Professor of Urban and Built Form Studies at University College London. He trained as an architect, and has taught at Cambridge University and the Open University. He has published several books on geometry in architecture, and on computer-aided design. In the 1960s he edited and published Form, a quarterly magazine of the arts, and co-authored a book on kinetic art. He helped to produce four computer-animated films on the work of Leonardo da
Vinci for an exhibition in London in 1989. He has also contributed to other exhibitions, films, and books on perspective geometry and the history of art. Vermeer's Camera is the product of twenty years'
fascination with the Dutch painter.

Reviews

This intellectual detective story explores Vermeer's possible knowledge of 17th century science and provides exciting new evidence that one of the world's best-loved painters used a camera obscura to create some of the most famous images in Western Art. Illustrated with colour plates and monochrome illustrations, the book offers a fascinating glimpse of a time of great scientific and cultural innovation and achievement. Highly recommended.

This intellectual detective story explores Vermeer's possible knowledge of 17th century science and provides exciting new evidence that one of the world's best-loved painters used a camera obscura to create some of the most famous images in Western Art. Illustrated with colour plates and monochrome illustrations, the book offers a fascinating glimpse of a time of great scientific and cultural innovation and achievement. Highly recommended.