Re: VMs: Drawing circles

[Barbara Barrett <barbarabarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nick Pelling wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> At 12:55 06/08/2003 -0700, Bruce Grant wrote:
> > > Barbara Blithered;
> > > I wonder how many listers realise that the artists tool, the "light
> > > box", was actually invented in the 7th Century AD...
> 
> Well... Bishop Eadfrith, according to
> http://www.education.guardian.co.uk/higher/artsandhumanities/story/0,12241,955339,00.html
>          "...must have pioneered the medieval equivalent of the light box
>          to secure the details in his illustrations."
> 
> I'm not sure that stands up as proof, though - do you have a better
> reference than this, Barbara?

Alas no. It was one of those "facts" that was dished out to me as an Art
Student, but I'd forgotten about until while I was reading the Circle
thread and listening to BBC Radio 4 who were doing a feature on a new
facsimile copy of the Lindisfarne Gospels and the project leader
recounted the inovations used in the production of the original, which
included the "light box"

> > Bruce Babbled; 
> >This is very interesting. What did they use for a light source? It seems
> >like candles would be too dim and too variable - maybe reflected sunlight?
> >Or was it something as simple (but awkward) as pressing the page against a
> >vertical window?

No idea Bruce. But I'd assume that a tawt sheet of velum in a frame,
inclined at 45 degrees or so, with its "back" to strong sunlight would
do if the artist was delicate and didn't put any real weight upon the
work surface. If several candles were used, between them and the
translucency of the surface the flickering light wouldn't have been much
of a problem for the "tracer".

> Here's someone with much the same theory as you, Bruce:-
>          http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Celtic_Art/message/1031?source=1
> 
> But didn't even moderately-sized flat sheets of glass require a separate
> (much later) technological revolution?

"Float Glass", quite thick and flat on both sides as used in modern
"light box" layout & Past-up tables is an early 20thC invention. However
I recall reading that prior to float glass that glass could be made
smooth on one side. Although I've no idea when it became technologically
possible to make large (and by that I mean roughtly about A3 or A2
sizes) was invented, but again I'd not be surprised if that was much
longer ago than one would suspect.

Barbara

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