 |
| Hoogstraten's Peepshow Box, National Gallery |
In
a quiet corner of the National Gallery stands a box, well, a box on a stand to
be more accurate. It looks relatively
ordinary, wooden and brown. It is just a bit surprising to find a box in an art
gallery. What is it doing there, apart
from standing? The answer to that
question lies within, because although it is simply standing in a room full of
art, it is actually concealing a room
full of art.
I feel rather like Alice in Wonderland as I peep through the tiny eye holes at either end of this box of delights. I discover a perfectly proportioned room with a mirror hanging on the wall, a chair, and a black and white dog sitting up and looking at me. There are coats and a sword hanging on pegs and a crumpled piece of paper with writing on it lying carelessly on a table top.
From
the other peephole I can see doorways leading to other rooms, one to a bedroom
with a curtained bed and another through a corridor to where a lady sits. A shadowy man can be glimpsed through the
windows at the front of the house, a visitor perhaps, eagerly awaited by the
lady or unwelcome and about to shatter the peace of the house. Paintings line the walls, hanging slightly at
an angle, leaning into the room. I crane
my neck to see around corners and doorways; maybe I can catch a glimpse of
myself in the mirror. Suddenly, I am
aware of being watched. There is an eye
looking at me through the other peephole.
The spell is broken. I am
standing, not in a house full of rooms, but next to a box in a room full of
art.
Hoogstraten’s
seventeenth century Peephole Box showing a Dutch interior is a masterpiece of
perspective. One side of the box is
glass enabling the viewer to see how the incredible three dimensional effect
was achieved. For example, parts of the
dog are painted on the wall and parts are painted at a different angle on the
floor. These parts are anamorphic
projections which look distorted when seen like this, but when viewed through
the peepholes the dog looks realistically three dimensional. The rooms leading off the main room are
painted on the three interior walls using normal perspective and giving the
impression that a whole house is contained within the box. The illusion is so complete whilst looking
through the peepholes, that when I stand up it really feels as if, like Alice,
I have eaten the cake labelled ‘Eat Me’ and am shooting upwards, giant-like
once more.
Visit
the National Gallery, room 25 and be amazed by Hoogstraten’s Box.
Alison Barker
Alison Barker
That box does look like a box of delights. Nice review Alison.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Alison. Is "anamorphic projection" the same technique as the scull painted on the floor in Hans Holbein's "The Ambassadors"?
ReplyDeleteHi Andy, thank you for your question, and yes, the anamorphic projection is the same technique that Hans Holbein used to paint the skull in his 1533 'The Ambassadors'.
Delete