Hockney Art Theory Challenged

Computer analysis of a 17th-century painting shows the artist did not - as has been claimed - use optical devices to project a perfect image of the scene onto his canvas. In his 2001 book 'Secret Knowledge', Hockney set out to show that the heightened realism of many Renaissance paintings was achieved by projecting images of the subject onto the canvas, which the artists then traced. This would have required artists to use a device such as a camera obscura. But next week, Stanford University physicist and art historian David Stork, who has been a fierce critic of Hockney's idea, will present evidence that he believes show Hockney is wrong. Stork has used computer imaging software to analyse the shadows in Georges de la Tour's 1645 painting 'Christ in the Carpenter's Studio' in a bid to plot the direction and intensity of the light illuminating the scene. This allowed him to determine whether the candle in Christ's hand was the only source of light. For the full story - click the title Irish Art