I recall seeing a drawing or painting that is/was famous, done by a name brand artist, and probably dated from the mid-late 1800s. I’m hoping somebody can provide a name of the artist or the work. Right now I can’t locate an image of it since I can’t name it. Hereafter for brevity I’m going to write as if it was a painting, but I don’t know that for sure; it may have been a drawing in almost any medium. I’m pretty sure it was colored, not monochrome.
The picture was made by setting up the canvas horizontally, then placing a cylindrical mirror upright in the center. IOW, the mirror is shaped like a traditional candle chimney. Then the subject is placed nearby and the painting is painted in a distorted way on the canvas so the reflected image in the mirror looks correct.
ISTR the subject itself was a vase of flowers. But this is the weakest part of my fuzzy recollection; the subject could plausibly have been almost anything.
I imagine over time many such works have been made by many artists. But this one is either the seminal one, or the most famous work by the most famous experimental artist of the day.
So …
Who and what am I thinking of? ISTR reading that it caused a lot of consternation when released to the public; conservative critics of the time didn’t like the idea at all.
M.C. Escher did some similar reflected drawings, including a masterful reflected self portrait as seen in a mirrored ball held in his hand. But I’m pretty sure the thing I’m thinking of was not his.
as noted, it’s called Anamorphic Art. There are many varieties, including things viewed in a cylinder (as you note), things viewed in a reflecting cone, and things viewed at an extreme angle (as in The Ambassadors. I have two books on the topic, filled with images. There have been several museum shows devoted to s=uch art – there was one many years ago at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
as noted, it’s called Anamorphic Art. There are many varieties, including things viewed in a cylinder (as you note), things viewed in a reflecting cone, and things viewed at an extreme angle (as in The Ambassadors. I have two books on the topic, filled with images. There have been several museum shows devoted to s=uch art – there was one many years ago at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
I now sorta suspect that my memory is faulty and the piece I’m half-assedly recalling was simply a moderately famous work that was the first one I had encountered. It definitely wasn’t The Ambassador.
Waaaay back in high school, my humanities teacher showed us this book. I was fascinated, and it became my “holy grail” of books I’d search for in every (new or used) bookstore I hit (this was pre-Internet).
Once the internet came along, I was able to locate a copy - some 20+ years later.
Rick Wakeman released an album with an anamorphic cover. The LP was packaged with a sheet of reflective mylar that could be rolled into a cylindrical mirror.
