Is Vermeer a Cheat?

There has been much debate as to whether Johannes Vermeer enlisted optical aid in the creation of his paintings. And surprisingly, this has become accepted by most scholars since the issue was first presented and published in the 1960s.

In a new film directed by Teller, “Tim’s Vermeer”, Tim Jenison, who is untrained as a painter, creates a near perfect replica of Vermeer’s The Music Lesson. How is it that an untrained painter is able to create something as magnificent and precise as a Vermeer? Camera Obscura. Using his own version of a camera obscura in his studio in Texas, Tim is able to trace a precise replica of Vermeer’s painting. Jenison’s experiment has bolstered the view that Vermeer used the technology of lenses to enhance what can be seen by the naked eye.

Camera obscura refers to a darkened room (“camera”) into which a small opening of light projects an inverted, often unfocused image in color onto a wall or screen. These pinholes, in the mid-16^th century, were substituted with glass lenses, giving clearer projections. As one can guess, the thought that a revered artist like Vermeer could have actually traced or even copied an image is of concern. If this is in fact true, does this make Vermeer a cheat? And does the use of such technology diminish his achievements as an artist? Will the public’s opinion remain in awe of his talent in knowing this?

I personally don’t find the idea of Vermeer using lenses as cheating or a diminishment of his achievements as a painter. Rather, I find that his use of the lens to be clever if in fact, he did use them. Much of art today is not created by the hands of the artist, but by others like production teams who have the needed skills to produce what the artist has imagined in his or her mind. And some of the greatest artists of our time use technology to assist them in producing a work of art.

As John Walker of the National Gallery of Art stated in Roberts’ “Changing Practices of Interpretation”, “a work of art is not a specimen, not primarily an historical document, but a source of pleasure, analogous to, say, a musical composition,…to communicate to the spectator.” Regardless of whether or not he used optical aids in producing his paintings, art is at its core, a means for its viewer to connect to, identify and be inspired by it and Vermeer's paintings, I believe, will forever remain loved and appreciated by the public.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Vermeers-visual-magic-is-tested-in-new-film/30412