Response to Hockney's Theory

David Hockney began to see very many similarities between drawings, sketches, and even paintings that were created in the early 1400’s. After narrowing down that many of the pieces had very similar lighting, the size of the artwork was approximately the same and each piece was very realistically drawn.

Mr. Hockney tried to reconstruct a Jan van Eyck painting of a chandelier and could not draw with the precision that van Eyck once did. This chandelier was completely and totally drawn mathematically correct, with no flaws whatsoever. This is when Hockney realized that these artists had to use something to assist them in their artwork. The theory and conclusion that Hockney came to was that the artists were using a lens or piece of glass to “mirror” the image onto the canvas, which allowed the artist to trace the picture.

After viewing this film, I was very shocked and disappointed that these famous and legendary artists were somehow “cheating” when creating these masterpieces. I believe this was the feeling that many people had when leaving the classroom on Wednesday. This theory opened up a new way for artists to depict something so perfect that there were many people that thought it, in fact, was a photograph. Although, after thinking about this theory a little more in depth, I realized that an artist like Jan van Eyck may have had the intention to create his work so mathematically correct and so realistic that the viewer believed it was a photograph. If this was his intention I still believe him to be an outstanding artist, and still give him a lot of credit for his work.