Secret Knowledge

That's the title of a book and TV show by David Hockney in which he proposes that the so-called Old Masters used a Camera Obscura to do all their work.

But reading the wikipedia entry for Mr Hockney, it says that "almost all serious optical historians" reject his hypothesis. This is intriguing, since it's a very convincing hypothesis. There are some articles on the web about this, although I mistrust some of them who seem to want to take the opportunity to attack modernism, which they see being represented by Hockney. There are attacks on his 'technical skill' which is bollocks, but hardly surprising from people who put classical aesthetics above all other considerations. The human race has moved on guys...

The one thing that did occur to me at the time was that plenty of living artists manage to make very accurate life-like drawings without a Camera Obscura or similar object. So his theory falls downs there really. Plus, I'd also like to know more about the pressures on the old artists to produce their work as quickly and efficiently as possible for their patrons.