Vasari: Marvels of Art, Part 2
One more marvel. This one's so cool it deserves its own entry.
Vol. II, pp. 640-1, Taddeo Zucchero: ...[I]n the guardaroba of that Cardinal [the Cardinal di Monte] ... there is a painted picture as fantastic as any work of which we have spoken hitherto. In this picture, which is about two braccia and a half in height, there is nothing to be seen by him who looks at it from the ordinary point of view, from the front, save some letters on a flesh-coloured ground, and in the centre the Moon, which goes gradually increasing or diminishing according to the lines of the writing. And yet, if you go below the picture and look in a sphere or mirror that is placed over the picture in the manner of a little balachin, you see in that mirror, which receives the image from the picture, a most life-like portrait in painting of King Henry II of France, somewhat larger than life, with these words about it -- HENRY II, ROY DE FRANCE. You can see the same portrait by lowering the picture, placing your brow on the upper part of the frame, and looking down; but it is true that whoever looks at it in that manner, sees it turned the other way from what it is in the mirror. This portrait, I say, cannot be seen save by looking at it as described above, because it is painted on twenty-eight ridges, too low to be perceived, which are between the lines of the words given below, in which, besides the ordinary meaning, there may be read, by looking at both ends of the lines and in the centre, certain letters somewhat larger than the others, which run thus -- HENRICUS VALESIUS DEI GRATIA GALLORUM REX INVICTISSIMUS.
HEus tu quid viDes nil utreoR
Nisi lunam crEscentemet E
Regione posItam quaeeX
Intervallo GRadatimutI
Crescit nos Admonetut iN
Una spe fide eT charitatetV
Simul et ego IllluminatI
Verbo deicrescAmus,doneC
Ab ejusdem GratiafiaT
Lux in nobis AmplissimaquI
ESt aeternus iLLe datorluciS
In quo et a quO mortalesomneS
Veram lucem ReciperesI
Speramus in vanUM nonsperabiMUS
The way the king's portrait is painted reminds me of the skull in Holbein's The Ambassadors, with its image stretched and elongated from a normal viewpoint. This kind of perspective trick must have been quite the Renaissance fad.
By the way, is there a Latinist in the house? If anyone can translate the main body of text, I'd be eternally grateful. (I can handle the "secret" message on my own.)
Vol. II, pp. 640-1, Taddeo Zucchero: ...[I]n the guardaroba of that Cardinal [the Cardinal di Monte] ... there is a painted picture as fantastic as any work of which we have spoken hitherto. In this picture, which is about two braccia and a half in height, there is nothing to be seen by him who looks at it from the ordinary point of view, from the front, save some letters on a flesh-coloured ground, and in the centre the Moon, which goes gradually increasing or diminishing according to the lines of the writing. And yet, if you go below the picture and look in a sphere or mirror that is placed over the picture in the manner of a little balachin, you see in that mirror, which receives the image from the picture, a most life-like portrait in painting of King Henry II of France, somewhat larger than life, with these words about it -- HENRY II, ROY DE FRANCE. You can see the same portrait by lowering the picture, placing your brow on the upper part of the frame, and looking down; but it is true that whoever looks at it in that manner, sees it turned the other way from what it is in the mirror. This portrait, I say, cannot be seen save by looking at it as described above, because it is painted on twenty-eight ridges, too low to be perceived, which are between the lines of the words given below, in which, besides the ordinary meaning, there may be read, by looking at both ends of the lines and in the centre, certain letters somewhat larger than the others, which run thus -- HENRICUS VALESIUS DEI GRATIA GALLORUM REX INVICTISSIMUS.
HEus tu quid viDes nil utreoR
Nisi lunam crEscentemet E
Regione posItam quaeeX
Intervallo GRadatimutI
Crescit nos Admonetut iN
Una spe fide eT charitatetV
Simul et ego IllluminatI
Verbo deicrescAmus,doneC
Ab ejusdem GratiafiaT
Lux in nobis AmplissimaquI
ESt aeternus iLLe datorluciS
In quo et a quO mortalesomneS
Veram lucem ReciperesI
Speramus in vanUM nonsperabiMUS
The way the king's portrait is painted reminds me of the skull in Holbein's The Ambassadors, with its image stretched and elongated from a normal viewpoint. This kind of perspective trick must have been quite the Renaissance fad.
By the way, is there a Latinist in the house? If anyone can translate the main body of text, I'd be eternally grateful. (I can handle the "secret" message on my own.)