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You know, sometimes
when I'm laying in bed at night
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trying to get to sleep,
3
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all I can think about is this goal
of trying to paint a Vermeer.
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You know, really, I'm gonna try
to paint a Vermeer.
5
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And, at the face of it,
that seems almost impossible.
6
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And I don't know if I could do it.
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You know, it'll be pretty remarkable if I can,
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because I'm not a painter.
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The Vermeer he's talking about
is Johannes Vermeer,
10
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the Dutch artist from the 1600s.
11
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Some consider him the greatest painter
of all time.
12
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When you look at a Vermeer,
it seems like more than paint on canvas.
13
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It seems to glow like the image on
a movie screen.
14
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That magical quality has mystified
the world for 350 years.
15
00:02:38,708 --> 00:02:40,784
How did Vermeer do it?
16
00:02:40,877 --> 00:02:43,284
Dutch artists typically learnt
by apprenticeship
17
00:02:43,379 --> 00:02:47,079
and they kept written records
to prove their training.
18
00:02:47,174 --> 00:02:50,756
But no such documents have ever
been found about Vermeer.
19
00:02:50,844 --> 00:02:54,923
And strangely, when you x-ray
these intricate images,
20
00:02:55,014 --> 00:02:58,631
you don't find the usual
artist's sketches underneath.
21
00:02:58,725 --> 00:03:02,259
It's as if Vermeer were
some unfathomable genius
22
00:03:02,353 --> 00:03:07,145
who could just walk up to a canvas
and magically paint with light.
23
00:03:10,151 --> 00:03:12,903
It's possible that Vermeer
was using technology
24
00:03:12,987 --> 00:03:15,063
to make these beautiful paintings.
25
00:03:15,156 --> 00:03:18,987
If he did that, and, of course,
there's no documentation that he did this,
26
00:03:19,076 --> 00:03:25,789
it's possible he could paint some pretty
remarkable pictures without a lot of training.
27
00:03:25,873 --> 00:03:31,163
It's possible that he was more
of an experimenter,
28
00:03:31,252 --> 00:03:33,624
more of a tinkerer, more of a geek.
29
00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:37,710
And, in that way, I feel a kinship with him,
because I'm a computer graphics guy,
30
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,298
and we use technology
to make a realistic, beautiful image,
31
00:03:41,386 --> 00:03:44,137
and it's possible that's exactly
what Vermeer was doing.
32
00:03:45,681 --> 00:03:48,682
Tim Jenison is not a painter,
he's an inventor.
33
00:03:48,809 --> 00:03:52,058
He's always had a talent for figuring out
how things work.
34
00:03:52,145 --> 00:03:56,059
When Tim was growing up in lowa,
he got a broken player piano,
35
00:03:56,148 --> 00:03:58,817
repaired it, and taught himself
to play swing music
36
00:03:58,901 --> 00:04:03,277
by slowing down the piano rolls
so he could follow Fats Waller's fingers.
37
00:04:03,446 --> 00:04:06,980
Tim played keyboards in a rock band
for a couple of years
38
00:04:07,074 --> 00:04:10,692
and taught himself to fix anything electronic
that broke.
39
00:04:10,869 --> 00:04:12,363
The amazing wizard!
40
00:04:12,537 --> 00:04:14,862
He got married, had a family,
41
00:04:14,956 --> 00:04:19,083
and built a business repairing
pinball machines and video games.
42
00:04:19,209 --> 00:04:23,621
Then, around 1990, he invented
a way to turn personal computers
43
00:04:23,713 --> 00:04:26,204
into TVstudios for live broadcasting.
44
00:04:26,549 --> 00:04:30,000
He called it the Video Toaster,
and it won him an Emmy.
45
00:04:30,093 --> 00:04:33,592
That led him to other amazing achievements
like LightWave,
46
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,170
a program for rendering 3D images,
47
00:04:36,265 --> 00:04:40,559
which won an Emmy for his company,
NewTek, in 2003.
48
00:04:40,894 --> 00:04:43,811
Tim's now based in San Antonio, Texas,
49
00:04:43,897 --> 00:04:46,518
and his company produces the TriCaster,
50
00:04:46,607 --> 00:04:50,190
used in broadcast, web,
and live performance.
51
00:04:50,903 --> 00:04:54,852
All this has given Tim the money
and free time to make things like this,
52
00:04:56,616 --> 00:04:58,822
Frankie, his lip-syncing duck.
53
00:05:02,079 --> 00:05:07,582
A plane made entirely of stuff from
a home improvement store.
54
00:05:07,667 --> 00:05:08,698
It's an electric moth.
55
00:05:08,793 --> 00:05:10,500
His electric moth.
56
00:05:10,586 --> 00:05:14,369
As you raise the light,
it comes up off the floor,
57
00:05:14,464 --> 00:05:17,963
and it stays at exactly the same distance
under the light.
58
00:05:19,301 --> 00:05:21,128
And this.
59
00:05:32,062 --> 00:05:35,727
Here's the pipe organ Tim put together
from four different churches.
60
00:05:35,815 --> 00:05:38,436
Once I got started,
you have to have more pipes,
61
00:05:38,526 --> 00:05:42,143
because it's never quite enough,
so I've got three pipe organs here,
62
00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,647
plus an electronic organ
that I'm using for the keyboard.
63
00:05:45,740 --> 00:05:49,073
Tim and I have been friends
for a really long time.
64
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,077
If there was an artist,
he would draw it, what you see...
65
00:05:52,162 --> 00:05:54,914
We've cried together
at space shuttle launches.
66
00:05:54,998 --> 00:05:57,239
We flew his Learjet down to Cabo San Lucas
67
00:05:57,333 --> 00:05:59,906
to see the total eclipse of the sun.
68
00:06:00,002 --> 00:06:01,876
So, the devil's in there.
69
00:06:01,962 --> 00:06:06,090
This is Penn, the last day he was able to see
70
00:06:06,174 --> 00:06:10,041
before he lost God's most precious gift
looking at the eclipse.
71
00:06:10,845 --> 00:06:13,928
Tim's been weightless
in an astronaut-training plane
72
00:06:14,014 --> 00:06:16,469
and he arranged for me to try it, too.
73
00:06:16,558 --> 00:06:19,843
I vomited into my own hair.
74
00:06:19,936 --> 00:06:24,264
Tim was not and is not a painter.
75
00:06:24,523 --> 00:06:28,816
So I didn't know he had
this whole little sub-obsession
76
00:06:28,901 --> 00:06:31,474
with Vermeer.
77
00:06:31,695 --> 00:06:35,775
Tim's Vermeer project started
11 years back, in 2002,
78
00:06:35,866 --> 00:06:40,278
when his daughter gave him a copy
of David Hockney's book, Secret Knowledge.
79
00:06:40,369 --> 00:06:44,616
Hockney wrote that
when pictures started to look less like this,
80
00:06:44,706 --> 00:06:46,284
and more like this,
81
00:06:46,374 --> 00:06:49,957
that was because artists had found
new tools to help them.
82
00:06:50,044 --> 00:06:55,204
In 17th-century Holland, high quality lenses
and mirrors were in use everywhere.
83
00:06:55,299 --> 00:06:57,457
Telescopes were all the rage
84
00:06:57,550 --> 00:07:02,425
and science hobbyists were experimenting
with ways to project live images.
85
00:07:02,513 --> 00:07:05,466
Hockney challenged conventional wisdom
by suggesting
86
00:07:05,557 --> 00:07:09,257
that when artists of Vermeer's day
began to paint more accurately,
87
00:07:09,352 --> 00:07:13,396
they were no longer using just their eyes
and their imaginations.
88
00:07:13,481 --> 00:07:18,023
They were secretly getting help from
optical machines, like the camera obscura.
89
00:07:18,109 --> 00:07:22,486
Camera obscura is Latin for "dark room".
90
00:07:22,697 --> 00:07:24,488
Build a box, any size.
91
00:07:24,573 --> 00:07:26,482
Could be the size of a shoebox,
92
00:07:26,575 --> 00:07:29,445
but let's make this one big enough
to stand inside.
93
00:07:29,536 --> 00:07:31,409
It's a dark room.
94
00:07:31,537 --> 00:07:35,830
Drill a little hole in one side of the box
and you see something surprising.
95
00:07:35,916 --> 00:07:39,450
The image of whatever is outside the box,
in the light,
96
00:07:39,544 --> 00:07:44,620
is projected on the wall opposite the hole,
only it's upside down and backwards.
97
00:07:44,757 --> 00:07:48,836
You can make the image brighter and clearer
by putting a lens in the hole,
98
00:07:48,927 --> 00:07:51,797
and you can change
the size of the image on the wall
99
00:07:51,888 --> 00:07:55,090
by changing the curvature
and position of the lens.
100
00:07:57,893 --> 00:08:00,727
Here's David Hockney on a TVspecial.
101
00:08:00,812 --> 00:08:03,100
He's inside a camera obscura,
102
00:08:03,189 --> 00:08:07,435
tracing the image of a live model
projected through a lens.
103
00:08:10,028 --> 00:08:11,937
Hockney was mostly focused on
104
00:08:12,030 --> 00:08:15,445
how a painter could have traced images
through a lens.
105
00:08:16,283 --> 00:08:21,988
To me, what was most striking
about the Vermeers, as a video guy,
106
00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,282
I'm looking at this image,
and I see a video signal.
107
00:08:25,374 --> 00:08:30,534
I see something that looks like
it came out of a video camera.
108
00:08:30,629 --> 00:08:35,539
So I thought about how a painter
could actually copy that.
109
00:08:35,633 --> 00:08:40,875
Now, most people that have played
with a camera obscura
110
00:08:40,971 --> 00:08:45,513
got the idea that they could take that
projected image and somehow paint on it.
111
00:08:45,641 --> 00:08:49,638
Well, I've tried that and a lot of people
have tried it, it's impossible.
112
00:08:49,770 --> 00:08:53,019
What happens is it actually fights you,
it works against you,
113
00:08:53,106 --> 00:08:54,564
it's worse than nothing at all.
114
00:08:55,232 --> 00:08:57,439
Painting on a projection just doesn't work.
115
00:08:57,526 --> 00:09:01,108
Here's a blue that matches very closely
the blue in the projection.
116
00:09:01,196 --> 00:09:03,069
Imagine this is wet paint.
117
00:09:03,156 --> 00:09:07,200
When you put it into the projection,
it looks way too dark.
118
00:09:07,326 --> 00:09:09,567
On the other hand, here's a perfect match.
119
00:09:09,661 --> 00:09:12,827
The colour that matches
the projected colour just right.
120
00:09:12,914 --> 00:09:15,950
The only colour that'll ever do that is white.
121
00:09:18,919 --> 00:09:21,623
Tim went around
the world studying Vermeer.
122
00:09:26,676 --> 00:09:29,510
They called it "painting with light."
Vermeer "painted with light."
123
00:09:29,595 --> 00:09:32,132
You can't paint with light,
you have to paint with paint.
124
00:09:32,222 --> 00:09:37,927
And so what they're really talking about
is this verisimilitude that Vermeer has,
125
00:09:38,018 --> 00:09:41,434
that it just pops.
126
00:09:41,521 --> 00:09:46,266
You see it from across the room
and it looks like a slide,
127
00:09:46,359 --> 00:09:49,359
it looks like a colour slide of Kodachrome.
128
00:10:10,504 --> 00:10:14,501
Seeing the Vermeers in person
was a revelation.
129
00:10:14,591 --> 00:10:17,840
It reinforced to me that
I was on the right track.
130
00:10:17,927 --> 00:10:23,466
That what I was seeing was an accurate
representation of the colour in that room.
131
00:10:25,808 --> 00:10:32,474
I just had a hunch that there must be a way
to actually get the colours accurate,
132
00:10:32,564 --> 00:10:33,975
with mechanical means.
133
00:10:34,065 --> 00:10:36,307
Some way you could do that
in the 17th century.
134
00:10:36,526 --> 00:10:41,816
I remember just having this vague idea
of comparing two colours with a mirror,
135
00:10:41,905 --> 00:10:44,443
and it didn't go any farther than that
for a long time.
136
00:10:44,532 --> 00:10:45,813
Sitting in the bathtub,
137
00:10:45,909 --> 00:10:48,992
you know, that's I guess where you have
your eureka moments,
138
00:10:49,078 --> 00:10:52,612
but, I don't know,
there's something about bath water...
139
00:10:52,706 --> 00:10:54,579
It's just very, very relaxing.
140
00:10:54,666 --> 00:10:58,745
And I was just picturing that mirror
hanging there in space,
141
00:10:58,836 --> 00:11:02,252
and I pictured what I would see,
and there it was.
142
00:11:02,339 --> 00:11:07,000
And so I grabbed a piece of paper,
being careful not to get it wet,
143
00:11:07,093 --> 00:11:10,793
made a sketch, and that was where I realised
144
00:11:10,888 --> 00:11:14,932
Vermeer could have used a mirror
to paint those paintings.
145
00:11:19,103 --> 00:11:23,764
To test this I propped up a high school
photograph of my father-in-law on the table.
146
00:11:23,857 --> 00:11:26,811
I put a piece of Masonite down here
to paint on.
147
00:11:26,901 --> 00:11:30,768
I set a small mirror at a 45-degree angle.
148
00:11:32,448 --> 00:11:36,148
And for the first time in my life,
I did just what Vermeer may have done.
149
00:11:36,284 --> 00:11:39,735
I picked up some oil paints and a brush.
150
00:11:39,829 --> 00:11:42,201
In Vermeer's camera
this would be a projection,
151
00:11:42,289 --> 00:11:44,282
a lens is projecting this image.
152
00:11:44,374 --> 00:11:47,873
But to show the actual
mirror painting process,
153
00:11:47,961 --> 00:11:49,419
we're using a photograph here.
154
00:11:49,504 --> 00:11:55,007
You can see that there's a reflection,
and then there's my canvas down here.
155
00:11:55,092 --> 00:11:59,302
And right at the edge of the mirror,
I can see both things at once.
156
00:11:59,387 --> 00:12:01,011
I'm just going to apply paint
157
00:12:01,097 --> 00:12:05,509
and either darken or lighten the paint
until it's the same exact colour.
158
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,767
And at that point,
when it's exactly the same colour,
159
00:12:08,853 --> 00:12:10,845
the edge of the mirror will disappear.
160
00:12:10,938 --> 00:12:15,018
All right, and I'm an idiot at this,
161
00:12:15,108 --> 00:12:20,647
I have done this process
exactly twice in my life before.
162
00:12:23,073 --> 00:12:26,940
What I'm doing is
I'm moving my head up and down
163
00:12:27,035 --> 00:12:30,735
so that I can see first the original
and then my canvas.
164
00:12:30,830 --> 00:12:34,115
I'm looking at both things at the same time.
165
00:12:34,208 --> 00:12:36,580
Right on the forehead,
you can see that they match,
166
00:12:36,668 --> 00:12:38,993
because you can't really see
the edge of the mirror.
167
00:12:39,087 --> 00:12:42,253
That's, that's your clue that
you've matched the paint exactly.
168
00:12:42,340 --> 00:12:46,040
It's not subjective, it's objective.
169
00:12:46,134 --> 00:12:50,630
I'm a piece of human photographic film
at that point.
170
00:12:53,557 --> 00:12:56,344
What you're doing here
is you're essentially blending?
171
00:12:56,435 --> 00:13:03,053
Yep, I am either darkening or lightening
the paint that's already on the surface.
172
00:13:03,149 --> 00:13:06,849
You aren't tracing any lines,
'cause there are no lines.
173
00:13:06,944 --> 00:13:11,818
Yeah, that's a characteristic of the Vermeers
that makes them unusual,
174
00:13:11,906 --> 00:13:13,448
is that there weren't lines,
175
00:13:13,532 --> 00:13:16,782
and there weren't any lines
drawn underneath the paint either.
176
00:13:17,619 --> 00:13:20,952
It looks like there's these blobs
that are emerging into a picture.
177
00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:22,948
It doesn't look like...
178
00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,456
The order you're doing stuff in is not a...
179
00:13:26,543 --> 00:13:28,251
It's not being done mentally.
180
00:13:28,337 --> 00:13:29,416
No, it's...
181
00:13:29,504 --> 00:13:31,295
And that's what's so nutty about it.
182
00:13:31,381 --> 00:13:35,248
You know, if I was better at this,
it may be more systematic,
183
00:13:35,342 --> 00:13:38,711
I may evolve into doing it
more systematically, but...
184
00:13:38,804 --> 00:13:40,511
No matter what I've tried,
185
00:13:40,597 --> 00:13:44,890
if I just spend enough time
comparing the mirror to the canvas
186
00:13:44,975 --> 00:13:49,304
and stirring the paint around,
it ends up looking like a photograph.
187
00:13:54,650 --> 00:13:57,900
And this was the result of Tim's experiment,
188
00:13:57,986 --> 00:14:00,559
it took him five hours.
189
00:14:03,241 --> 00:14:05,992
Not bad for a first oil painting.
190
00:14:14,208 --> 00:14:19,794
The father-in-law picture was proof enough
in my mind that Vermeer probably did this.
191
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:25,039
However, my father-in-law doesn't look like
a 17th-century Dutch woman,
192
00:14:25,134 --> 00:14:29,961
so I don't think it would be very
convincing evidence for a lot of people.
193
00:14:30,055 --> 00:14:34,052
So, I thought the best way would be
to really do a Vermeer.
194
00:14:34,142 --> 00:14:37,640
I had the suspicion that it was exactly
the same thing.
195
00:14:37,728 --> 00:14:40,764
If I could do the father-in-law,
I could paint a Vermeer.
196
00:14:40,856 --> 00:14:45,019
It seemed to me the most powerful
demonstration of the idea.
197
00:14:45,109 --> 00:14:50,529
The reason I chose The Music Lesson
is probably because, of all the paintings,
198
00:14:50,614 --> 00:14:54,658
I think The Music Lesson
is a great little laboratory,
199
00:14:54,742 --> 00:14:59,404
because it's so complete
and so self-contained.
200
00:14:59,496 --> 00:15:02,616
You know where the windows are,
you know how big the windows are,
201
00:15:02,707 --> 00:15:06,158
you can reconstruct the harpsichord
independent of the painting,
202
00:15:06,252 --> 00:15:10,960
the Spanish chair, the viola da gamba,
the rug, all these things could be procured,
203
00:15:11,048 --> 00:15:16,172
and their appearance is gonna be what it is,
independent of Vermeer's painting.
204
00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,178
It's a little scientific experiment
waiting to happen.
205
00:15:28,020 --> 00:15:29,929
Before Tim went to all that trouble,
206
00:15:30,022 --> 00:15:32,939
we thought he should run
his idea by a working artist.
207
00:15:33,024 --> 00:15:34,269
So we called up our friend,
208
00:15:34,359 --> 00:15:37,608
Los Angeles-based painter
and entertainer, Martin Mull,
209
00:15:37,695 --> 00:15:42,440
and asked him to meet Tim
at a studio in Las Vegas and see his gizmo.
210
00:15:42,532 --> 00:15:45,070
Oh, my God.
211
00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,610
Oh, my God.
212
00:15:52,165 --> 00:15:53,446
Holy cow.
213
00:15:53,542 --> 00:15:57,206
Took me about half an hour
to learn how to operate a paintbrush.
214
00:15:57,295 --> 00:16:00,628
Good for you, it took me 40 years.
215
00:16:00,714 --> 00:16:06,384
Well, and the beauty of this technique
is that you can make mistakes
216
00:16:06,469 --> 00:16:10,632
and see what you did wrong instantly
and try to fix it.
217
00:16:10,723 --> 00:16:12,680
This is astounding.
218
00:16:12,766 --> 00:16:14,557
So this is a camera obscura,
219
00:16:14,643 --> 00:16:19,138
typical of the type
that could be found in the 1600's.
220
00:16:19,230 --> 00:16:22,396
This type of camera obscura
is called a "box camera obscura".
221
00:16:22,483 --> 00:16:24,724
It generally had a ground glass like this.
222
00:16:24,818 --> 00:16:28,151
It has the ability to refocus
by moving the lens in and out.
223
00:16:28,237 --> 00:16:32,021
The general consensus of people
that believe Vermeer used optics
224
00:16:32,116 --> 00:16:36,860
was that he may have looked at that image
and been inspired by it.
225
00:16:36,953 --> 00:16:37,984
Yeah.
226
00:16:38,079 --> 00:16:39,193
And that's the end of the story.
227
00:16:42,082 --> 00:16:44,655
So now that we know there's a way
to copy the colours exactly,
228
00:16:44,751 --> 00:16:46,660
I'm proposing an alternate history
of Vermeer.
229
00:16:46,753 --> 00:16:47,784
Okay.
230
00:16:47,879 --> 00:16:50,001
His father's an art dealer,
he knows something about art,
231
00:16:50,089 --> 00:16:51,631
he wants to make a painting.
232
00:16:52,007 --> 00:16:53,466
He looks at this image...
233
00:16:53,550 --> 00:16:54,629
Okay.
234
00:16:54,718 --> 00:16:56,924
There's my daughter, Natalie.
235
00:16:57,178 --> 00:17:01,507
What if Vermeer took the camera,
turned it sideways, and now it's vertical,
236
00:17:01,599 --> 00:17:04,172
- like my father-in-law picture.
- Okay.
237
00:17:05,268 --> 00:17:07,640
He takes his canvas,
238
00:17:09,272 --> 00:17:13,221
and, the secret ingredient,
239
00:17:13,317 --> 00:17:14,479
the mirror.
240
00:17:14,568 --> 00:17:15,943
He positions the mirror here.
241
00:17:16,027 --> 00:17:17,687
Which corrects the inversion?
242
00:17:17,779 --> 00:17:20,020
- Yeah, it brings it back...
- And everything...
243
00:17:20,114 --> 00:17:23,483
And there it is! Clear as can be.
244
00:17:23,575 --> 00:17:27,655
So if he's in his living room,
he puts up some curtains,
245
00:17:27,746 --> 00:17:28,990
controls the light,
246
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:32,116
and now picks up his brush
and starts to paint.
247
00:17:33,709 --> 00:17:38,287
My guess is that the Girl with the Red Hat
is that first painting.
248
00:17:38,380 --> 00:17:40,835
- Wow.
- It's painted over the top of another painting.
249
00:17:40,923 --> 00:17:43,877
We can x-ray it and see that
there's something else underneath,
250
00:17:43,968 --> 00:17:45,960
so maybe this was just
a throwaway experiment.
251
00:18:00,732 --> 00:18:03,222
So I understand, Tim,
that when you go back to Texas,
252
00:18:03,317 --> 00:18:09,817
you're going to construct a replica
of the exact room where Vermeer painted?
253
00:18:09,906 --> 00:18:11,020
Yeah.
254
00:18:11,115 --> 00:18:17,235
And you're going
to do a painting in his stead,
255
00:18:17,329 --> 00:18:18,574
am I right?
256
00:18:18,663 --> 00:18:19,742
Yep.
257
00:18:19,831 --> 00:18:23,413
Many of Vermeer's paintings appear
to have been painted in the same room,
258
00:18:23,501 --> 00:18:25,244
likely the north-facing room
259
00:18:25,336 --> 00:18:28,004
on the second floor
of the house Vermeer lived in.
260
00:18:28,088 --> 00:18:31,670
That's the room Tim plans to construct.
261
00:18:31,799 --> 00:18:37,919
I really hope to see firsthand
what Vermeer was up against,
262
00:18:38,013 --> 00:18:40,338
if he was using this technique.
263
00:18:42,308 --> 00:18:47,728
And try to get some idea
264
00:18:47,813 --> 00:18:49,639
of how long it would take,
265
00:18:49,731 --> 00:18:52,304
just to get the conditions right...
266
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,603
Just mundane things like how much
usable lighting do you get in a day.
267
00:18:55,694 --> 00:18:57,568
So you're not going to use any artificial light.
268
00:18:57,654 --> 00:18:58,733
That's right.
269
00:18:58,822 --> 00:19:02,404
And I'm only going to use materials
that Vermeer would have had.
270
00:19:02,492 --> 00:19:03,571
Okay.
271
00:19:03,659 --> 00:19:06,150
So, I'm going to force myself
into the constraint
272
00:19:06,245 --> 00:19:10,871
of having to grind the pigments
and, you know, make the paint,
273
00:19:10,957 --> 00:19:15,037
and use only pigments that he had access to
or that he used in his paintings.
274
00:19:15,127 --> 00:19:19,670
For his experiment, Tim wanted
to recreate, as closely as possible,
275
00:19:19,756 --> 00:19:22,329
the conditions that Vermeer
was working with.
276
00:19:22,425 --> 00:19:25,212
Back then you couldn't just run down
to the paint store
277
00:19:25,303 --> 00:19:26,796
and pick up a tube of paint,
278
00:19:26,887 --> 00:19:30,053
so Tim had to learn how to grind
and mix the pigments,
279
00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:33,140
which I'm now talking about
something I know nothing about,
280
00:19:33,226 --> 00:19:37,057
but of grinding the pigments
and adding in the oil
281
00:19:37,187 --> 00:19:38,765
and however you make paint.
282
00:19:38,856 --> 00:19:41,856
If it were left to me to make paint,
there would be no paint.
283
00:19:43,067 --> 00:19:44,858
I also learnt how to make lenses.
284
00:19:44,944 --> 00:19:47,731
I couldn't use a modern lens,
they're too good.
285
00:19:47,821 --> 00:19:49,150
So I had to build one.
286
00:19:49,239 --> 00:19:53,402
So I had to make the form on a lathe,
I had to melt the glass,
287
00:19:53,493 --> 00:19:56,992
I had to polish it with
various grades of abrasives,
288
00:19:57,079 --> 00:20:00,863
just the way they made lenses
in the 17th century.
289
00:20:00,957 --> 00:20:03,115
To be sure he was getting everything right,
290
00:20:03,209 --> 00:20:06,376
Tim took some time off of work
to fly to Holland.
291
00:20:06,462 --> 00:20:09,712
He visited Delft,
the city where Vermeer had lived,
292
00:20:09,798 --> 00:20:12,253
and studied the light and the architecture.
293
00:20:12,342 --> 00:20:15,841
So this is it, this is where Vermeer painted
those magical light pictures.
294
00:20:15,928 --> 00:20:19,213
He learnt to read Dutch,
he consulted with experts,
295
00:20:19,306 --> 00:20:23,599
measured furniture in museums,
and immersed himself in Vermeer's world.
296
00:20:30,983 --> 00:20:33,604
All right, so move it in. Okay, good.
297
00:20:54,919 --> 00:20:59,415
I would like to get one exactly like this.
Do you think you could make one?
298
00:20:59,507 --> 00:21:00,704
That's possible, yes.
299
00:21:27,572 --> 00:21:31,900
When he got back to San Antonio,
Tim rented a warehouse that faced North,
300
00:21:31,992 --> 00:21:33,534
just like Vermeer's studio,
301
00:21:33,618 --> 00:21:36,489
and invited Professor Philip Steadman
over from London
302
00:21:36,579 --> 00:21:38,737
to look over his experiment.
303
00:21:38,831 --> 00:21:42,081
While some believe that Vermeer
painted from his imagination,
304
00:21:42,167 --> 00:21:46,247
Steadman found evidence that
Vermeer used optics.
305
00:21:46,337 --> 00:21:49,421
Steadman is the author of Vermeer's Camera.
306
00:21:49,507 --> 00:21:53,089
In this book, Steadman analyses six
of Vermeer's paintings
307
00:21:53,177 --> 00:21:55,928
to determine the layout of Vermeer's studio.
308
00:21:56,012 --> 00:21:58,254
Then he uses geometry to figure out
309
00:21:58,348 --> 00:22:01,514
where the lens in a camera obscura
would have to go
310
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,055
to match each painting's viewpoint.
311
00:22:04,144 --> 00:22:07,927
Now he calculates the size of the projection
on Vermeer's back wall,
312
00:22:08,022 --> 00:22:12,315
and compares that to the size
of the corresponding painting.
313
00:22:13,944 --> 00:22:17,229
For all six, the sizes match exactly.
314
00:22:18,281 --> 00:22:21,317
It doesn't seem like
that would happen by chance.
315
00:22:21,784 --> 00:22:25,235
Pretty convincing evidence
that Vermeer used a lens.
316
00:22:27,414 --> 00:22:29,322
Well, tell me about what you're doing.
317
00:22:29,415 --> 00:22:32,451
Steadman's discovery fit perfectly
with Tim's mirror,
318
00:22:32,543 --> 00:22:35,164
so now Tim set up a test that would use both.
319
00:22:35,253 --> 00:22:38,586
And this, we will make
an attempt at painting this.
320
00:22:38,673 --> 00:22:40,831
- Okay.
- Using the mirror.
321
00:22:40,925 --> 00:22:42,383
So, now let's go inside the booth.
322
00:22:42,468 --> 00:22:43,463
Yeah.
323
00:22:43,552 --> 00:22:45,794
He and Steadman would try to paint a jug
324
00:22:45,887 --> 00:22:49,635
using his comparator mirror
inside a camera obscura,
325
00:22:49,724 --> 00:22:52,096
as Tim thought Vermeer had done.
326
00:22:55,979 --> 00:22:57,603
They take turns painting.
327
00:22:57,731 --> 00:23:00,304
It doesn't matter who does the brushstrokes,
328
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,273
the process is objective,
329
00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:05,858
and any painter who uses it,
gets the same result.
330
00:23:10,283 --> 00:23:12,952
David Hockney's book came out
just after mine.
331
00:23:13,035 --> 00:23:14,992
What do you remember about the reaction?
332
00:23:15,079 --> 00:23:20,072
There was quite a controversy around
both books, wasn't there?
333
00:23:20,166 --> 00:23:22,242
Enormous, yes, yes.
334
00:23:22,335 --> 00:23:27,577
There was a lot of upset, a really deep
anguish amongst the art historians.
335
00:23:27,672 --> 00:23:31,966
The painters were relaxed.
336
00:23:32,093 --> 00:23:36,006
They said, you know,
"This is a technology, fine, okay."
337
00:23:36,096 --> 00:23:41,849
But there was something, a really deep
hurt amongst some of the art historians
338
00:23:41,934 --> 00:23:47,355
which was to do with intrusion
of amateurs and crass rationalists
339
00:23:47,439 --> 00:23:50,689
into the preserves of art history.
340
00:23:50,775 --> 00:23:55,686
It was to do with a misunderstanding
of the nature of art
341
00:23:55,779 --> 00:23:58,614
and cheating and genius,
342
00:23:58,698 --> 00:24:03,525
and the idea that an optical method
is some sort of cheat,
343
00:24:03,619 --> 00:24:05,327
because these are very accurate,
measured perspectives.
344
00:24:05,412 --> 00:24:10,239
So, there are two ways you can do them.
You can produce them optically,
345
00:24:10,583 --> 00:24:12,741
or you can set them up geometrically.
346
00:24:13,211 --> 00:24:18,002
If you set them up geometrically,
you're using the standard methods,
347
00:24:18,090 --> 00:24:21,292
it's a machine, it's an algorithm,
you apply the rules.
348
00:24:21,384 --> 00:24:23,044
Why is that not cheating?
349
00:24:23,136 --> 00:24:25,673
- Exactly.
- Strange, isn't it?
350
00:24:27,514 --> 00:24:31,891
So, the only legitimate way to make
a painting is to just walk up to the canvas,
351
00:24:31,976 --> 00:24:34,549
and alla prima paint it.
352
00:24:34,645 --> 00:24:38,263
But the reason it isn't cheating
is that it's hard.
353
00:24:38,357 --> 00:24:40,598
- Yes.
- It's geometry, it's mathematics.
354
00:24:40,692 --> 00:24:43,895
- Well, this certainly is not easy.
- This is not easy, no.
355
00:24:43,986 --> 00:24:47,437
- If Vermeer did this, it wasn't a time saver.
- No, indeed.
356
00:24:47,531 --> 00:24:53,900
I can't comprehend that someone
could paint that from their imagination.
357
00:24:55,162 --> 00:24:56,241
No. Of course not.
358
00:24:56,330 --> 00:24:59,117
A human being is pretty
remarkable sometimes.
359
00:24:59,208 --> 00:25:03,121
To get objects at their true sizes,
360
00:25:03,211 --> 00:25:08,168
and to get all the kind of luminous effects...
361
00:25:08,257 --> 00:25:13,167
Painters can do miraculous things,
it's difficult to say, "This is impossible,"
362
00:25:13,261 --> 00:25:17,044
but some things are more impossible
than others.
363
00:25:30,108 --> 00:25:32,943
I was gonna go right off the edge there.
364
00:25:33,778 --> 00:25:34,857
So.
365
00:25:34,946 --> 00:25:38,480
- Great. Well, congratulations.
- And you.
366
00:25:38,574 --> 00:25:39,819
Fantastic.
367
00:25:42,661 --> 00:25:46,989
I want to think that
this simple, elegant device
368
00:25:47,081 --> 00:25:50,200
is something that Vermeer could have used.
369
00:25:50,292 --> 00:25:53,458
There's no doubt it's practical,
and it's simple.
370
00:25:53,545 --> 00:25:54,920
You know, it's a plain mirror.
371
00:25:55,004 --> 00:25:57,839
This is a 17th-century technology,
they knew all about mirrors,
372
00:25:57,923 --> 00:26:01,921
and you can imagine him perhaps thinking
of something like what Tim has thought of,
373
00:26:02,010 --> 00:26:05,509
but we know nothing from
a documentary point of view
374
00:26:05,597 --> 00:26:08,383
of how Vermeer worked,
there are no descriptions by him,
375
00:26:08,474 --> 00:26:11,759
by other people, there are no drawings...
376
00:26:11,852 --> 00:26:13,643
We know very little about his life.
377
00:26:13,728 --> 00:26:18,935
So the only real source of information
to answer a question like that
378
00:26:19,024 --> 00:26:20,602
would be the paintings themselves.
379
00:26:20,693 --> 00:26:23,361
Using Tim's device, it isn't easy,
380
00:26:23,445 --> 00:26:27,193
but somehow it does turn you
into a machine.
381
00:26:27,281 --> 00:26:30,448
You become a machine.
Was Vermeer a machine?
382
00:26:31,827 --> 00:26:35,776
Maybe Vermeer was strong-minded enough
to think, "I'll become a machine".
383
00:26:38,332 --> 00:26:39,874
That little picture of the jug
384
00:26:39,959 --> 00:26:43,659
took Tim and Steadman
eight and a half hours to paint,
385
00:26:43,754 --> 00:26:45,545
and Tim's method worked.
386
00:26:45,630 --> 00:26:49,378
But they were painting in black and white,
and using powerful electric light
387
00:26:49,467 --> 00:26:52,218
that wouldn't have been around
in Vermeer's day.
388
00:26:52,302 --> 00:26:55,718
Would Tim's mirror work well enough
to paint The Music Lesson,
389
00:26:55,805 --> 00:26:58,557
in full colour, in natural light?
390
00:26:58,641 --> 00:27:02,887
To find that out Tim would need
Vermeer's room, and everything in it.
391
00:27:03,478 --> 00:27:09,729
But museums don't loan stuff from the 1600s
to video engineers with a wacky hobby.
392
00:27:10,985 --> 00:27:14,733
It would be nice if I could have hired
somebody to build all this
393
00:27:14,821 --> 00:27:17,110
but it was kind of an interactive process,
394
00:27:17,198 --> 00:27:22,571
you know, I had to first model the room
in LightWave 3D,
395
00:27:23,829 --> 00:27:27,612
working from the painting to get
the dimensions and the shapes right.
396
00:27:27,707 --> 00:27:31,122
Even though it was a lot of work,
it was just easier for me to do it,
397
00:27:31,210 --> 00:27:33,202
because as I went I could make sure
398
00:27:33,295 --> 00:27:36,498
that the furniture looked like
the furniture in the Vermeers.
399
00:27:36,923 --> 00:27:39,295
But Tim is not a dressmaker.
400
00:27:39,717 --> 00:27:40,880
Or a framer.
401
00:27:41,510 --> 00:27:43,716
Or a carpenter. Upholsterer.
402
00:27:44,137 --> 00:27:45,217
Glazier.
403
00:27:46,056 --> 00:27:49,175
Builder of virginals,
which is a type of harpsichord.
404
00:27:49,517 --> 00:27:50,762
Metalsmith.
405
00:27:50,851 --> 00:27:52,132
Furniture maker.
406
00:27:52,228 --> 00:27:53,722
Plasterer.
407
00:27:53,854 --> 00:27:55,016
Tile layer.
408
00:27:55,105 --> 00:27:57,346
Or a lens maker.
409
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,065
But he's not an artist either.
410
00:27:59,567 --> 00:28:02,733
He used what he was, a technologist,
411
00:28:02,820 --> 00:28:05,524
to help him become
all those things he wasn't,
412
00:28:05,614 --> 00:28:08,401
so that he could build his room.
413
00:28:48,567 --> 00:28:49,811
This is fun.
414
00:28:50,818 --> 00:28:56,737
I mean, this is the real thing.
415
00:29:45,072 --> 00:29:47,610
Is it safe for there to be that much smoke?
416
00:29:47,699 --> 00:29:50,190
I don't know, I've never done this before!
417
00:29:50,285 --> 00:29:52,610
Could it heat up and catch fire?
418
00:29:52,704 --> 00:29:57,080
- Well, I guess. I don't know.
- Whatever!
419
00:29:57,166 --> 00:29:59,621
It's kind of cool. Okay, here we go.
420
00:30:27,399 --> 00:30:30,684
Okay, I got a problem with the virginals leg.
421
00:30:30,777 --> 00:30:34,193
It's supposed to be 36 and a half inches long,
422
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,692
but my lathe only goes
423
00:30:39,701 --> 00:30:42,488
about 34 inches.
424
00:30:42,829 --> 00:30:45,367
I mean, I could make the leg in two pieces.
425
00:30:45,456 --> 00:30:48,872
But I think what I'm gonna do
is I'm going to cut the lathe in two.
426
00:31:00,636 --> 00:31:06,839
Generally, you don't take a fine
precision machine tool and saw it in half,
427
00:31:07,266 --> 00:31:10,432
but power tools are made to be jury-rigged.
428
00:31:57,934 --> 00:31:59,392
Yeah, it's a big guitar.
429
00:32:02,437 --> 00:32:08,226
Viola da gamba is called a "viola da gamba"
because "gamba" means leg,
430
00:32:08,693 --> 00:32:10,768
and you play it between your legs.
431
00:32:22,454 --> 00:32:23,569
I like it.
432
00:32:46,349 --> 00:32:48,342
I don't know much about woodworking.
433
00:32:50,478 --> 00:32:56,729
So I'm doing this, not out
of love for woodworking,
434
00:32:56,816 --> 00:32:58,441
but out of necessity
435
00:32:58,526 --> 00:33:04,694
because you just can't buy these
stupid chairs anywhere,
436
00:33:04,781 --> 00:33:06,275
and I need one.
437
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:33,853
David Hockney is one
of Britain's greatest artists.
438
00:34:33,939 --> 00:34:36,560
He's famous for paintings like this.
439
00:34:36,650 --> 00:34:40,232
Since his optical theory got
Tim started on this journey,
440
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,531
he seemed the ideal person for Tim to talk to.
441
00:34:44,615 --> 00:34:48,114
Hockney invited us to visit,
so we all went to England.
442
00:34:50,662 --> 00:34:56,248
What I knew about David Hockney
was that he was a famous artist.
443
00:34:56,333 --> 00:34:59,832
But, reading his book, I could see
that he wasn't a typical artist,
444
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:03,169
that he was somewhat a scientist.
445
00:35:03,423 --> 00:35:07,883
Philip Steadman and David Hockney,
to my mind,
446
00:35:09,261 --> 00:35:11,633
to the mind of a sceptic,
447
00:35:11,721 --> 00:35:18,470
prove that Vermeer used some sort of device.
448
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:24,313
But Secret Knowledge,
and all the Philip Steadman work,
449
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:30,442
are this wonderful, exciting, tingly whodunit,
that never tells you who did it.
450
00:35:30,946 --> 00:35:33,863
Hockney showed
that artists were using lenses.
451
00:35:33,948 --> 00:35:36,569
Steadman argued that
Vermeer was using a lens.
452
00:35:36,659 --> 00:35:40,442
I believed that Vermeer must have
been using more than just a lens.
453
00:35:40,537 --> 00:35:44,451
The reason to go see Hockney was
to bounce this idea off him
454
00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:46,912
and see if he thought it was plausible.
455
00:35:47,293 --> 00:35:49,748
How did you figure this out?
What are you, a...
456
00:35:49,836 --> 00:35:52,753
Well, I started thinking about it
after I read your book, and...
457
00:35:52,839 --> 00:35:54,796
Are you an optical... I mean...
458
00:35:54,882 --> 00:35:56,211
I design television equipment.
459
00:35:56,300 --> 00:35:57,628
- That's my job.
- I see.
460
00:35:57,718 --> 00:36:01,762
So I know a bit about colour and imagery.
461
00:36:01,847 --> 00:36:05,974
And I suspected looking at these
old pictures from the Golden Age,
462
00:36:06,058 --> 00:36:11,099
Caravaggio, Vermeer, van Eyck,
463
00:36:11,188 --> 00:36:16,561
that there must have been
a way to copy the tones.
464
00:36:16,692 --> 00:36:20,392
Because that's what's quite remarkable,
actually. Yes, it is.
465
00:36:20,487 --> 00:36:23,653
I need to stand on that side
of the table for a second.
466
00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:27,073
So it's a mirror on a stick.
467
00:36:27,159 --> 00:36:28,190
All right.
468
00:36:28,285 --> 00:36:32,993
This is what I saw when I was painting,
if you look straight down.
469
00:36:33,164 --> 00:36:35,370
And of course I started with a blank...
470
00:36:35,458 --> 00:36:36,786
I see, yes. Yeah, yeah.
471
00:36:36,876 --> 00:36:41,087
And you can move your head up and down
and you can see different parts of the image.
472
00:36:41,171 --> 00:36:44,753
And that's how you work your way
from one part to the other.
473
00:36:44,841 --> 00:36:49,965
Now right at the edge of the mirror,
where you see both images,
474
00:36:50,054 --> 00:36:53,837
you can do a direct comparison of the tone.
475
00:36:53,932 --> 00:36:55,260
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
476
00:36:55,350 --> 00:36:58,054
And your eye can instantly see,
because they're together,
477
00:36:58,144 --> 00:37:02,057
can see any contrast, and the edge
of the mirror basically disappears.
478
00:37:02,147 --> 00:37:06,014
When you have the right colour
and only when you have the right colour.
479
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:11,108
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see.
This is very ingenious.
480
00:37:11,530 --> 00:37:15,361
So you notice that there is no parallax
when you move your head,
481
00:37:15,450 --> 00:37:16,529
there is no shifting.
482
00:37:16,618 --> 00:37:18,526
- That's it, no.
- The two images stay locked together.
483
00:37:18,619 --> 00:37:19,947
- Why is that?
- Want to look through it?
484
00:37:20,037 --> 00:37:22,113
- How is that?
- I know, it's very clever.
485
00:37:22,206 --> 00:37:26,831
I must say, the idea that the Italians,
when you think about the Italians,
486
00:37:26,918 --> 00:37:31,413
they love pictures,
the idea that they didn't use this
487
00:37:31,505 --> 00:37:36,843
because this would have been cheating,
I find childish, absolutely childish.
488
00:37:36,926 --> 00:37:41,054
There's also this modern idea that
art and technology must never meet.
489
00:37:41,180 --> 00:37:44,963
You know, you go to school for technology
or you go to school for art
490
00:37:45,058 --> 00:37:46,766
but never for both.
491
00:37:46,851 --> 00:37:49,768
But in the Golden Age,
they were one and the same person.
492
00:37:49,854 --> 00:37:50,933
Yeah.
493
00:37:51,021 --> 00:37:54,306
The interesting thing is that
if this was around then,
494
00:37:54,816 --> 00:37:57,521
we are seeing photographs.
495
00:37:57,986 --> 00:38:02,362
If they were using this
and exactly copying that colour.
496
00:38:02,448 --> 00:38:04,819
Yeah, well, I mean...
497
00:38:04,908 --> 00:38:08,193
- It's a photo.
- Yeah.
498
00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:14,157
After seeing this, I mean,
it's not a complicated piece of equipment,
499
00:38:14,249 --> 00:38:19,041
but how likely do you think it is
that they may have done this?
500
00:38:19,128 --> 00:38:21,251
- I think it's very likely.
- Really.
501
00:38:21,338 --> 00:38:23,829
Very likely. Yeah, yeah, absolutely likely.
502
00:38:23,924 --> 00:38:27,339
I mean, I'm pretty positive optics...
503
00:38:27,427 --> 00:38:30,593
I mean, there's no explanation
for the paintings without optics.
504
00:38:33,098 --> 00:38:35,885
But, you know, historical evidence,
505
00:38:35,976 --> 00:38:41,016
it'd be great to find a lost letter
from Johannes Vermeer...
506
00:38:41,105 --> 00:38:42,599
Wait a minute.
507
00:38:42,982 --> 00:38:45,519
I put a joke letter in Secret Knowledge.
508
00:38:45,609 --> 00:38:46,640
You did?
509
00:38:46,735 --> 00:38:48,015
A joke letter.
510
00:38:48,111 --> 00:38:52,986
This is what historians were looking for.
From Hugo van der Goes to van Eyck.
511
00:38:55,284 --> 00:39:00,360
"Could you go to ye
Brugge Mirror Supply Company"
512
00:39:00,455 --> 00:39:05,246
"and get one of those makeup mirrors
for my wife, you know what I mean?"
513
00:39:06,877 --> 00:39:09,083
Well, I said,
"You'll never find a letter like that."
514
00:39:09,170 --> 00:39:10,830
- Yeah.
- They never wrote down...
515
00:39:10,922 --> 00:39:15,133
Van Eyck would not write down
the formulas for the paint
516
00:39:16,176 --> 00:39:18,927
for the simple reason
that somebody might read them.
517
00:39:19,012 --> 00:39:20,506
And there were other people
518
00:39:20,597 --> 00:39:22,221
that wouldn't write 'em down.
519
00:39:22,306 --> 00:39:27,548
People were sworn to secrecy,
oaths that they took very seriously.
520
00:39:28,145 --> 00:39:31,513
You won't, you never...
It's naive to think you'll find something.
521
00:39:31,606 --> 00:39:34,939
Paintings are documents, aren't they?
Aren't they telling you a lot?
522
00:39:36,777 --> 00:39:38,401
Paintings are documents.
523
00:39:38,487 --> 00:39:40,894
They contain the story of their own creation.
524
00:39:40,989 --> 00:39:44,024
Every brushstroke, every layer of colour,
every shadow
525
00:39:44,116 --> 00:39:46,868
represents another piece of information.
526
00:39:47,119 --> 00:39:51,745
To the trained eye, a painting can be read
as accurately as any written text.
527
00:39:52,290 --> 00:39:53,867
And you don't need a trained eye
528
00:39:53,958 --> 00:39:57,457
to see that Vermeer's look different
from his contemporaries.
529
00:39:57,544 --> 00:40:00,035
They look like video images.
530
00:40:00,130 --> 00:40:02,501
He painted the way a camera sees.
531
00:40:05,134 --> 00:40:06,877
Ever since photography was invented,
532
00:40:06,969 --> 00:40:10,218
people have been noticing optical things
about Vermeer.
533
00:40:10,305 --> 00:40:11,633
On the Girl with the Red Hat,
534
00:40:11,723 --> 00:40:14,807
there's this lion's head
in the foreground that's fuzzy.
535
00:40:14,892 --> 00:40:17,679
Your eye naturally refocuses
on whatever you're looking at,
536
00:40:17,769 --> 00:40:19,228
so something in the foreground
537
00:40:19,312 --> 00:40:22,147
is not going to appear to your eye
as out of focus.
538
00:40:22,232 --> 00:40:26,478
But it could be out of focus
if the image was projected with a lens.
539
00:40:27,319 --> 00:40:29,027
The so-called pointilles,
540
00:40:29,112 --> 00:40:34,984
these little circles of paint,
look similar to what you get in a bad lens.
541
00:40:35,659 --> 00:40:40,202
You look at the back of her jacket
and there's a faint blue line.
542
00:40:40,288 --> 00:40:46,491
And that looks a lot like chromatic aberration
which is what happens in a crude lens.
543
00:40:47,378 --> 00:40:51,161
The edges of objects can develop
this rainbow fringe around them.
544
00:40:51,965 --> 00:40:56,092
This falloff of light from the window
to the opposite corner
545
00:40:56,177 --> 00:40:59,960
is something that an artist really cannot see
the way a camera sees it.
546
00:41:00,055 --> 00:41:01,597
It's impossible to see it.
547
00:41:01,681 --> 00:41:05,263
But Vermeer painted it
the way a camera sees it.
548
00:41:05,768 --> 00:41:10,595
Is it possible that
some people can see absolute brightness,
549
00:41:10,689 --> 00:41:12,349
and most people, can't?
550
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,013
You know, the way a musician
might have perfect pitch?
551
00:41:16,027 --> 00:41:19,477
You know, that's a question for a doctor.
552
00:41:19,738 --> 00:41:23,023
I'm Colin Blakemore.
I'm a professor at Oxford.
553
00:41:23,241 --> 00:41:25,814
Or a scientist
that specialises in human vision.
554
00:41:25,910 --> 00:41:31,200
And I've spent most of my career studying
vision and the functions of the brain.
555
00:41:31,373 --> 00:41:33,863
Is Vermeer maybe some sort of a savant
556
00:41:33,958 --> 00:41:36,034
that's different
from the rest of the human race?
557
00:41:36,127 --> 00:41:38,249
What if someone said,
558
00:41:38,337 --> 00:41:43,876
"Maybe there's a savant who is so smart,
that he could figure that out."
559
00:41:43,967 --> 00:41:47,051
Well, he's not smart. I mean,
he'd have to have a very strange retina.
560
00:41:47,178 --> 00:41:49,217
Our retinas are made the way they're made.
561
00:41:49,430 --> 00:41:51,837
The retina is an outgrowth of the brain.
562
00:41:51,932 --> 00:41:55,929
It's a very complicated structure
in terms of its nervous organisation.
563
00:41:56,019 --> 00:41:58,426
The signals go through
a complicated network,
564
00:41:58,521 --> 00:42:01,806
several layers
of different types of nerve cells,
565
00:42:01,898 --> 00:42:05,646
before they finally get back
to the last cells in the chain
566
00:42:05,735 --> 00:42:08,308
whose fibres make up the optic nerve.
567
00:42:08,612 --> 00:42:14,033
The optic nerve has limited bandwidth,
so the signals have to be compressed.
568
00:42:14,117 --> 00:42:16,405
One thing we lose in that compression
569
00:42:16,494 --> 00:42:21,202
is the ability to record absolute brightness
the way a light metre can.
570
00:42:23,125 --> 00:42:27,667
When we see two values side by side,
it's easy to compare them.
571
00:42:28,212 --> 00:42:31,663
But when we split them,
that ability goes away.
572
00:42:33,425 --> 00:42:37,636
There just isn't any mechanism
in the human nervous system
573
00:42:38,221 --> 00:42:41,506
to turn the eye into a light metre.
574
00:42:41,807 --> 00:42:44,344
And this is a very clever trick
for reducing information,
575
00:42:44,434 --> 00:42:48,348
but it's a disaster if you really want to know
about the appearance of the scene
576
00:42:48,437 --> 00:42:50,928
because you just can't do it with your brain.
577
00:42:51,732 --> 00:42:55,396
Look at the light on the back wall
of The Music Lesson.
578
00:42:55,485 --> 00:43:00,858
Every subtlety of brightness is recorded
with absolute photographic precision.
579
00:43:01,949 --> 00:43:05,115
The unaided human eye
is not equipped to do that.
580
00:43:05,493 --> 00:43:09,028
But if Vermeer used something
like Tim's device,
581
00:43:09,121 --> 00:43:11,328
the painting becomes possible.
582
00:43:12,291 --> 00:43:14,960
The Queen of England
owns Vermeer's Music Lesson
583
00:43:15,043 --> 00:43:17,166
and she has it there in Buckingham Palace.
584
00:43:17,253 --> 00:43:21,961
We thought since we were in England,
we'd stop by the palace and check it out.
585
00:43:22,383 --> 00:43:26,629
But the Queen said no.
So we shot a whole tirade against the Queen.
586
00:43:35,602 --> 00:43:36,633
But then...
587
00:43:36,728 --> 00:43:39,432
Well, I just came out of that building.
588
00:43:40,231 --> 00:43:42,307
That's where the painting is,
Buckingham Palace.
589
00:43:42,399 --> 00:43:46,977
The day before Tim returned home,
the Queen changed her Royal mind.
590
00:43:47,529 --> 00:43:51,395
She granted Tim a private audience
with The Music Lesson.
591
00:43:51,824 --> 00:43:54,445
He had 30 minutes to study the painting.
592
00:43:54,535 --> 00:43:58,579
The deal was, he could only record
the experience in his head,
593
00:43:58,663 --> 00:44:00,572
no photography allowed.
594
00:44:00,665 --> 00:44:02,823
And it was a great 30 minutes.
595
00:44:04,460 --> 00:44:06,416
The painting is amazing.
596
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,004
It's very different than I thought it would be.
597
00:44:10,339 --> 00:44:13,506
The reproductions
don't do it any justice at all.
598
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:16,088
The colours are more muted.
599
00:44:16,178 --> 00:44:20,175
It's slightly darker,
it's got a kind of an overall bluish cast.
600
00:44:23,309 --> 00:44:27,092
But the astounding thing
is the amount of detail.
601
00:44:27,312 --> 00:44:29,684
I put on my magnifying binoculars
602
00:44:30,815 --> 00:44:35,108
and looked at the virginals, and every stroke
603
00:44:35,569 --> 00:44:38,107
of that decoration is there.
604
00:44:39,197 --> 00:44:42,114
The Persian carpet,
you can see the individual knots.
605
00:44:44,243 --> 00:44:50,280
The amount of devotion, or dedication,
or obsession
606
00:44:50,999 --> 00:44:53,205
to get that amount of detail
607
00:44:53,292 --> 00:44:56,542
that just makes a general impression
on the viewer,
608
00:44:57,879 --> 00:45:02,587
but must have taken months of hard work.
609
00:45:06,595 --> 00:45:09,216
I don't know if I can even come close.
610
00:45:11,432 --> 00:45:15,382
When Tim got back to San Antonio,
he was in trouble.
611
00:45:19,064 --> 00:45:21,056
When he looked directly at the virginals,
612
00:45:21,149 --> 00:45:26,273
he could see the intricate pattern of
interlocking seahorses that Vermeer painted.
613
00:45:28,405 --> 00:45:31,109
When he looked at the projection
in his camera obscura,
614
00:45:31,199 --> 00:45:35,362
all those delicate little lines were too fuzzy
and dim to paint.
615
00:45:36,036 --> 00:45:37,614
It was a deal-killer.
616
00:45:37,704 --> 00:45:40,277
I had visions of a failed experiment.
617
00:45:40,915 --> 00:45:43,240
Tim knew there was something
he was missing.
618
00:45:44,252 --> 00:45:49,458
He experimented with increasingly
complex arrangements of lenses and mirrors.
619
00:45:49,798 --> 00:45:51,458
But nothing worked.
620
00:45:51,674 --> 00:45:53,963
Then Tim had an inspiration.
621
00:45:54,552 --> 00:45:58,798
He held a mirror against the wall
where the image was being projected.
622
00:45:59,806 --> 00:46:03,850
Now he could see a small circle of the room
sharp and clear
623
00:46:03,935 --> 00:46:06,260
and hundreds of times brighter.
624
00:46:06,896 --> 00:46:11,936
By tilting the mirror around, he could see
any part of the room he needed to paint.
625
00:46:12,942 --> 00:46:17,568
Then he realised if he just replaced
the flat mirror with a concave mirror,
626
00:46:17,655 --> 00:46:19,647
like a shaving mirror,
627
00:46:19,740 --> 00:46:23,606
he could make the bright circle much larger.
628
00:46:24,619 --> 00:46:27,572
So I realised
that if I could have an image that bright,
629
00:46:27,663 --> 00:46:29,371
I didn't have to have this darkroom,
630
00:46:29,456 --> 00:46:34,082
I could paint in daylight,
which is a huge, huge breakthrough.
631
00:46:34,919 --> 00:46:37,125
Tim started in the dark room.
632
00:46:37,254 --> 00:46:38,997
But the room is gone.
633
00:46:39,089 --> 00:46:41,496
The back wall is a concave mirror.
634
00:46:41,675 --> 00:46:45,672
All that's left
of the traditional camera obscura is the lens.
635
00:46:50,599 --> 00:46:56,553
Tim had invented a new optical instrument
or, perhaps, rediscovered a lost one.
636
00:46:57,188 --> 00:47:01,600
In it, he could see well enough
to attempt Vermeer's level of detail.
637
00:47:02,817 --> 00:47:05,688
He had his room. He had his machine.
638
00:47:05,778 --> 00:47:08,020
He was now ready to paint.
639
00:48:00,407 --> 00:48:01,652
Oh, boy.
640
00:48:38,022 --> 00:48:40,643
Boy, you know, I'm not trying
to make this look like a Vermeer,
641
00:48:40,733 --> 00:48:42,393
but it really looks like a Vermeer.
642
00:49:08,423 --> 00:49:13,131
I was cleaning up,
and getting ready to put my palette away,
643
00:49:13,218 --> 00:49:16,753
call it a day's work,
and I looked up at the monitor.
644
00:49:19,015 --> 00:49:24,353
I thought, "Man, that camera got pointed in
the wrong direction, it's pointed at the room."
645
00:49:24,436 --> 00:49:25,895
"How did that happen?"
646
00:49:25,979 --> 00:49:29,928
And that's the thought that went through
my head for just a couple milliseconds
647
00:49:30,024 --> 00:49:33,309
before I realised,
"No, I'm looking at the painting."
648
00:49:34,278 --> 00:49:36,353
And it was just kind of like a...
649
00:50:21,484 --> 00:50:25,315
You know, this project
is a lot like watching paint dry.
650
00:51:17,823 --> 00:51:20,859
I can paint the costumes
by putting them on mannequins.
651
00:51:20,951 --> 00:51:24,200
But to paint faces and hands,
I need to use people.
652
00:51:26,872 --> 00:51:29,541
I do everything I can to help them hold still.
653
00:51:30,792 --> 00:51:32,416
It sort of works.
654
00:51:36,213 --> 00:51:38,834
My daughter Claire is home for a month
from college.
655
00:51:39,174 --> 00:51:41,250
And it's time to paint the girl,
656
00:51:41,468 --> 00:51:45,299
so I put two and two together,
and used Claire.
657
00:51:45,388 --> 00:51:48,637
Her two sisters, are also in town,
Luren and Natalie.
658
00:51:48,724 --> 00:51:52,673
So they worked on fitting the costume
and doing her hair
659
00:51:52,769 --> 00:51:55,722
so that it looks like the girl in the picture.
660
00:51:55,813 --> 00:52:00,309
When they got all that on,
she was a dead ringer for the little Dutch girl.
661
00:52:00,567 --> 00:52:04,232
With that completed,
we put her in the head clamp,
662
00:52:05,738 --> 00:52:07,814
and positioned her just right.
663
00:52:45,688 --> 00:52:49,270
Few students have ever been happier
to go back to school.
664
00:53:01,243 --> 00:53:02,951
I may repaint that.
665
00:53:08,249 --> 00:53:11,415
Excuse me a second.
The wind's trying to blow my shade down.
666
00:53:11,502 --> 00:53:14,502
I thought you were having a ghost visitation.
667
00:53:27,890 --> 00:53:29,088
Fucker!
668
00:53:34,104 --> 00:53:35,598
Piece of shit.
669
00:53:37,982 --> 00:53:39,725
We're gonna have to go to plan B here.
670
00:53:39,817 --> 00:53:44,644
The frame that has my window,
and my shades and stuff, it came loose
671
00:53:44,738 --> 00:53:47,857
and it fell over and I think everything's okay.
672
00:53:51,285 --> 00:53:52,316
All right.
673
00:53:52,411 --> 00:53:56,242
I tend to build things
until they're just barely good enough.
674
00:53:56,790 --> 00:53:59,825
And sometimes that envelope gets exceeded.
675
00:54:00,710 --> 00:54:05,335
So if anything falls askew,
your painting's in no danger, is that correct?
676
00:54:05,964 --> 00:54:07,956
No, I wouldn't say that.
677
00:54:08,341 --> 00:54:10,547
- Okay.
- But, you know, I can always start over.
678
00:54:59,342 --> 00:55:01,548
Another interesting thing happened.
679
00:55:01,636 --> 00:55:03,628
What I noticed while I was looking at this,
680
00:55:03,721 --> 00:55:07,634
I can see the straight lines
of the seahorse there,
681
00:55:07,724 --> 00:55:12,848
and I can see the straight lines
that I've ruled already on the canvas,
682
00:55:12,937 --> 00:55:16,388
the framework of the virginals.
683
00:55:16,898 --> 00:55:20,730
All those are perfectly straight lines
because I laid 'em out with a straight edge
684
00:55:20,818 --> 00:55:22,478
before I painted them.
685
00:55:22,570 --> 00:55:28,323
Well, when I am trying to align this
very close now, within a tiny fraction,
686
00:55:28,408 --> 00:55:33,568
I can see that this straight line
isn't quite straight
687
00:55:34,371 --> 00:55:35,534
in the reflection.
688
00:55:35,622 --> 00:55:37,828
It's ever so slightly curved.
689
00:55:38,959 --> 00:55:43,169
Probably not enough to throw me off
now that I'm aware of it,
690
00:55:43,254 --> 00:55:47,251
but if I had just literally painted
that seahorse pattern,
691
00:55:47,924 --> 00:55:50,629
it would have ended up curved like this.
692
00:55:52,595 --> 00:55:58,430
And, so, I don't know why, but I went over
and I picked up the Vermeer print.
693
00:56:00,727 --> 00:56:05,969
And I go,
"Well, obviously Vermeer had no trouble"
694
00:56:07,149 --> 00:56:09,474
"painting those lines straight."
695
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:15,273
And then, I held the painting sideways
like this
696
00:56:15,364 --> 00:56:18,199
and I'm looking down these straight lines.
697
00:56:23,121 --> 00:56:25,576
And there's something really crazy
about this.
698
00:56:25,748 --> 00:56:29,827
The top and the bottom of the virginals
are absolutely straight.
699
00:56:29,918 --> 00:56:33,002
Because when I look at it down here
at an angle,
700
00:56:33,921 --> 00:56:36,459
I can see that it's a straight line.
701
00:56:37,299 --> 00:56:39,505
The seahorse motif is curved.
702
00:56:42,011 --> 00:56:43,671
It goes like this.
703
00:56:44,639 --> 00:56:48,089
You can't really tell until you look at it
704
00:56:49,434 --> 00:56:51,640
right down those lines, but...
705
00:56:55,439 --> 00:56:56,684
There is a curvature in there.
706
00:56:56,774 --> 00:56:59,940
And there's really no logical explanation
for that
707
00:57:01,278 --> 00:57:04,029
unless he was using something like this.
708
00:57:06,449 --> 00:57:10,944
Tim calls that bend in the seahorse pattern
the "seahorse smile."
709
00:57:11,369 --> 00:57:14,204
It's a flaw in Vermeer's painting.
710
00:57:14,289 --> 00:57:20,160
A mistake that nobody noticed for 350 years,
and then Tim almost made the same mistake.
711
00:57:20,252 --> 00:57:26,170
Tim is not looking for something
that will duplicate Vermeer's mistake.
712
00:57:26,966 --> 00:57:29,883
You know,
he doesn't know Vermeer's mistake is there.
713
00:57:29,968 --> 00:57:33,135
That's either a remarkable coincidence
714
00:57:33,221 --> 00:57:38,013
or Vermeer was using Tim's machine,
or something very much like Tim's machine
715
00:57:38,100 --> 00:57:39,215
to do his painting.
716
00:57:39,310 --> 00:57:42,808
As Hockney said, paintings are documents,
717
00:57:42,896 --> 00:57:44,972
and here's a little bit of evidence.
718
00:58:39,527 --> 00:58:42,397
Today I painted the seahorse motif.
719
00:58:42,488 --> 00:58:47,113
It was a lot of work. I couldn't really sit here
for more than 15, 20 minutes at a time.
720
00:58:47,575 --> 00:58:50,113
Your back just gets extremely tense.
721
00:58:50,369 --> 00:58:56,869
I tried to sit in the most relaxed position
I could find, which is like this.
722
00:58:58,376 --> 00:59:03,452
It's just really nerve-wracking, meticulous,
demanding work.
723
00:59:03,547 --> 00:59:07,129
I'm not looking forward
to doing the rest of the instrument,
724
00:59:07,217 --> 00:59:09,090
but at least I know it's doable.
725
01:00:10,478 --> 01:00:14,427
What I painted today is maybe, I expect
726
01:00:14,523 --> 01:00:19,480
will turn out to be the hardest part
of the painting, physically, to do.
727
01:02:02,780 --> 01:02:03,859
Man.
728
01:02:21,171 --> 01:02:25,547
Well, yeah this is going to be short
because it's about 40 degrees in here.
729
01:02:25,633 --> 01:02:30,709
So Karl and I came in here this morning,
and looked at each other, like,
730
01:02:32,555 --> 01:02:35,556
"No." You know, it's really cold in here.
731
01:02:35,975 --> 01:02:41,313
So I go, "Wait, I've got this heater
in the garage that I never assembled."
732
01:02:41,396 --> 01:02:45,892
"I got it for Christmas a few years ago,
it's one of those patio heaters."
733
01:02:48,027 --> 01:02:51,727
So, Karl said,
"Hey, I'll put it together, let's go get it."
734
01:02:52,405 --> 01:02:55,489
So we went and got it, and put it together,
it's over there.
735
01:02:55,575 --> 01:02:59,738
And fired it up and it worked great.
It's nice and toasty, you know?
736
01:03:00,287 --> 01:03:02,860
Karl was sittin' over there with his computer,
737
01:03:02,956 --> 01:03:09,124
and I said, "Hey, look up on there
to see if it's safe to use these indoors."
738
01:03:12,464 --> 01:03:14,124
And Karl looks up and says,
739
01:03:14,215 --> 01:03:18,212
"Yeah, you know it says here
it's absolutely not safe to use indoors."
740
01:03:19,261 --> 01:03:23,093
And I said, "Okay. Well, let's just run it"
741
01:03:24,140 --> 01:03:27,094
"and we'll be careful, okay?"
742
01:03:27,185 --> 01:03:33,352
"So if we notice any symptoms
of carbon monoxide poisoning, you know,"
743
01:03:33,440 --> 01:03:35,562
"we'll shut it off."
744
01:03:35,650 --> 01:03:40,940
So I start painting, and I actually painted
an elephant on The Music Lesson.
745
01:03:41,780 --> 01:03:45,860
I don't know why I put it there,
but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
746
01:03:45,950 --> 01:03:49,947
Karl actually, he put his head down,
747
01:03:51,538 --> 01:03:53,614
and he said, "I need a nap."
748
01:03:53,707 --> 01:03:56,280
I said, "What did you say?"
He said, "I need a nap."
749
01:03:56,376 --> 01:04:00,539
I said, "Okay, let's leave right now."
750
01:04:01,964 --> 01:04:04,122
"Let's shut this thing off and go get lunch."
751
01:04:04,216 --> 01:04:06,753
And on the way to lunch, driving to lunch,
752
01:04:06,843 --> 01:04:09,879
everything sort of cleared up again,
you know, we were in a fog.
753
01:04:09,970 --> 01:04:11,346
So anyway, that was a bad idea.
754
01:04:57,802 --> 01:04:59,711
It was kind of a weird day.
755
01:05:01,347 --> 01:05:04,550
I came in and started painting
this lower cushion,
756
01:05:04,641 --> 01:05:08,425
and sort of a wave of revulsion
swept over me.
757
01:05:10,771 --> 01:05:15,516
I just wanted to do anything in the world
but sit here and paint for some reason.
758
01:05:17,193 --> 01:05:19,601
I don't know, just one of those things.
759
01:05:20,446 --> 01:05:24,230
But I am pretty much ready
for this painting to be finished.
760
01:05:26,368 --> 01:05:28,277
If we weren't making a film, would I quit?
761
01:05:28,370 --> 01:05:32,497
Yeah, I definitely would. Yeah.
I'd find something else to do right now.
762
01:05:36,793 --> 01:05:40,921
Well, yesterday
when I was painting this chair, I was almost
763
01:05:44,216 --> 01:05:45,461
repulsed by it.
764
01:05:45,551 --> 01:05:49,761
I think maybe subconsciously
I knew that it was wrong.
765
01:05:52,765 --> 01:05:57,510
And it just didn't look like
it belonged in the painting to me,
766
01:05:57,602 --> 01:06:00,603
and I couldn't
put my finger on the reason why.
767
01:06:01,397 --> 01:06:04,979
And as I was trying to get to sleep last night,
768
01:06:05,067 --> 01:06:08,685
I was just sort of laying there
and I was visualizing that chair
769
01:06:08,778 --> 01:06:11,186
and I could see it in my mind.
770
01:06:11,281 --> 01:06:14,447
And I go,
"You know, that's just the wrong blue."
771
01:06:15,909 --> 01:06:18,151
"I should darken the legs."
772
01:06:19,579 --> 01:06:22,496
The top of the chair
can't possibly be tilted to the left.
773
01:06:22,582 --> 01:06:26,116
It's like I'm seeing it
and that can't possibly be right.
774
01:06:26,210 --> 01:06:29,495
I realised that
I had bumped the lens out of position
775
01:06:29,588 --> 01:06:32,671
and that's why
the chair's perspective was wrong.
776
01:06:33,299 --> 01:06:35,172
It was totally a subconscious thing.
777
01:06:35,259 --> 01:06:41,131
Maybe I do have an inner artist
that knew that was wrong.
778
01:07:29,429 --> 01:07:34,256
I thought that the rug would be
a little more free-form painting.
779
01:07:34,350 --> 01:07:39,011
But this rug is close enough
to the optical equipment here
780
01:07:39,104 --> 01:07:42,686
that I can clearly see all those little stitches.
781
01:07:42,774 --> 01:07:47,898
And since I can see that, and since my rule
is "paint what you see in the mirror,"
782
01:07:47,987 --> 01:07:50,275
if I want to get that kind of detail,
783
01:07:50,364 --> 01:07:55,488
I'm gonna have to
sort of make like the harpsichord here
784
01:07:56,327 --> 01:07:58,284
and just go for the detail.
785
01:08:28,062 --> 01:08:30,101
So, another day, more dots.
786
01:08:30,189 --> 01:08:31,351
Ditto yesterday.
787
01:08:31,857 --> 01:08:33,232
Just painting more dots.
788
01:09:29,488 --> 01:09:33,153
You know, it gets old painting this carpet.
789
01:10:03,976 --> 01:10:05,351
Oh, my God.
790
01:10:12,733 --> 01:10:13,978
We're on.
791
01:10:15,902 --> 01:10:19,271
Okay, so I've been
frantically running around here,
792
01:10:21,115 --> 01:10:22,775
setting up lights.
793
01:10:27,078 --> 01:10:28,537
And it shows.
794
01:10:30,581 --> 01:10:33,747
Today is the denouement, of sorts.
795
01:10:34,543 --> 01:10:35,788
The varnish job.
796
01:10:36,044 --> 01:10:40,670
For the last several months
I've been promising myself
797
01:10:40,756 --> 01:10:43,461
that all would be better
when the varnish went on.
798
01:10:43,551 --> 01:10:49,006
Because as the paint dries,
it gets light, it gets chalky, it desaturates.
799
01:10:49,097 --> 01:10:51,504
I've been very anxious to do this.
800
01:10:53,684 --> 01:10:58,974
I went along slowly with a small brush
and finally I just grabbed a giant brush,
801
01:10:59,647 --> 01:11:03,230
sloshed it in the varnish
and just started going to town.
802
01:11:03,484 --> 01:11:06,650
And everywhere I touched was magic.
803
01:11:09,322 --> 01:11:11,149
It's pretty astounding.
804
01:11:20,456 --> 01:11:22,413
Well, you know, today...
805
01:11:28,380 --> 01:11:31,001
Today's the day I've been waiting for.
806
01:11:42,308 --> 01:11:43,636
I'm sorry.
807
01:11:52,483 --> 01:11:54,523
I can't believe it's finished.
808
01:11:58,697 --> 01:12:02,694
We took Tim's painting back to England
to show Hockney and Steadman.
809
01:12:05,661 --> 01:12:07,238
Well, that's it.
810
01:12:14,585 --> 01:12:20,836
So, you know, it's my first ambitious attempt
at oil painting,
811
01:12:22,383 --> 01:12:25,586
and that's kind of part of the experiment,
that I'm not a painter,
812
01:12:25,678 --> 01:12:28,251
but I was trying to show
the power of the concept.
813
01:12:28,347 --> 01:12:29,426
Yeah.
814
01:12:30,891 --> 01:12:33,049
This is terrific, I must say.
815
01:12:33,268 --> 01:12:39,103
We noticed this
when we were doing our lens experiments.
816
01:12:39,439 --> 01:12:44,231
We noticed
that especially on these kind of cloths,
817
01:12:44,735 --> 01:12:48,400
on the projection you saw every weave
818
01:12:48,489 --> 01:12:52,106
that you couldn't in the real one,
and you get that in Vermeer.
819
01:12:52,200 --> 01:12:54,738
Now that's very, very effective.
Anybody looking at this...
820
01:12:54,827 --> 01:12:57,579
- I think this is better than Vermeer.
- Better than Vermeer?
821
01:12:57,663 --> 01:13:01,114
You do feel the weave of the carpet.
822
01:13:01,208 --> 01:13:02,618
Yeah, you really do.
823
01:13:02,709 --> 01:13:04,417
It looks actually woolly, doesn't it?
824
01:13:04,502 --> 01:13:06,044
Amazing, actually.
825
01:13:07,671 --> 01:13:10,376
It had to be something similar, it had to be.
826
01:13:10,716 --> 01:13:13,633
I mean, there's no doubt
that you've proved one thing, Tim,
827
01:13:13,718 --> 01:13:18,878
that you can paint a painting
of this degree of detail and precision in...
828
01:13:18,973 --> 01:13:22,804
Well, it's not exactly a camera obscura,
but it's an optical machine.
829
01:13:22,892 --> 01:13:26,557
And that's really what I set out to prove,
is that it could have been done that way.
830
01:13:26,646 --> 01:13:28,104
Sure. I mean there's no doubt about that.
831
01:13:28,189 --> 01:13:30,311
There's no way
that it proves that Vermeer did.
832
01:13:30,399 --> 01:13:34,396
That's the second question obviously, yes.
Did Vermeer work that way?
833
01:13:34,486 --> 01:13:38,814
Yeah, but it makes you rather convinced
that's what he did.
834
01:13:38,906 --> 01:13:42,072
I'm getting a little more convinced
all the time.
835
01:13:42,242 --> 01:13:44,863
I would say I'm about 90% there.
836
01:13:45,411 --> 01:13:50,653
But, you know,
if there was some historical record...
837
01:13:50,749 --> 01:13:54,793
I mean, the idea
that a painting isn't a historical record
838
01:13:54,878 --> 01:14:00,215
is from literary people who seem to just
not look at pictures and just read texts.
839
01:14:00,424 --> 01:14:02,250
This is a document in itself.
840
01:14:02,342 --> 01:14:05,212
I know people are going on
about documents.
841
01:14:05,303 --> 01:14:08,506
Paintings and drawings are documents,
they tell you a great deal.
842
01:14:08,597 --> 01:14:11,930
You've made a document
that's proving something, it is.
843
01:14:12,017 --> 01:14:14,175
It's fascinating.
844
01:14:14,686 --> 01:14:17,437
I mean, you set out to do some research.
845
01:14:17,647 --> 01:14:22,806
I think you've succeeded and, well,
you've shown it's possible to do it.
846
01:14:23,985 --> 01:14:27,484
- As I say, if you've recorded it very well...
- Yeah, yeah.
847
01:14:27,572 --> 01:14:29,979
I think it might disturb quite a lot of people.
848
01:14:30,074 --> 01:14:32,944
- I certainly hope so.
- Which is fine, that's fine. Why not?
849
01:14:51,383 --> 01:14:53,708
My friend Tim painted a Vermeer.
850
01:14:54,386 --> 01:14:57,552
In a warehouse, in San Antonio.
851
01:14:57,639 --> 01:14:59,465
He painted a Vermeer.
852
01:15:00,933 --> 01:15:03,850
And is Tim an artist, or is Tim an inventor?
853
01:15:04,061 --> 01:15:07,892
I think the problem is not trying
to pick one of those two for Tim to be,
854
01:15:07,981 --> 01:15:11,147
but the problem is
that we have that distinction.
855
01:15:12,359 --> 01:15:17,186
What Tim has done
is given us an image of Vermeer
856
01:15:17,280 --> 01:15:23,993
as a man who is much more real,
and in that way much more amazing.
857
01:15:25,662 --> 01:15:29,991
I mean, unfathomable genius
doesn't really mean anything.
858
01:15:30,666 --> 01:15:32,824
Now he's a fathomable genius.
859
01:15:44,011 --> 01:15:48,672
If there's any great merit in this picture
as a work of art, it's Vermeer's.
860
01:15:49,515 --> 01:15:54,224
It's Vermeer's composition
and it's Vermeer's invention.
861
01:15:54,686 --> 01:15:58,434
It's just been forgotten for 350 years.
75656
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