Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074
Advertise your product or brand here
contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today
2
00:01:24,646 --> 00:01:31,443
You know, sometimes
when I'm Iaying in bed at night
3
00:01:31,527 --> 00:01:34,231
trying to get to sIeep,
4
00:01:34,321 --> 00:01:40,904
aII I can think about is this goaI
of trying to paint a Vermeer.
5
00:01:40,993 --> 00:01:44,444
You know, reaIIy, I'm gonna try
to paint a Vermeer.
6
00:01:44,538 --> 00:01:50,575
And, at the face of it,
that seems aImost impossibIe.
7
00:01:50,668 --> 00:01:53,669
And I don't know if I couId do it.
8
00:01:55,923 --> 00:01:59,042
You know, it'II be pretty remarkabIe if I can,
9
00:02:00,343 --> 00:02:02,382
because I'm not a painter.
10
00:02:13,521 --> 00:02:16,770
The Vermeer he's talking about
is Johannes Vermeer,
11
00:02:16,857 --> 00:02:19,430
the Dutch artist from the 1600s.
12
00:02:19,526 --> 00:02:23,108
Some consider him the greatest painter
of all time.
13
00:02:23,195 --> 00:02:27,940
When you look at a Vermeer,
it seems like more than paint on canvas.
14
00:02:28,033 --> 00:02:32,943
lt seems to glow like the image on
a movie screen.
15
00:02:33,079 --> 00:02:38,618
That magical quality has mystified
the world for 350 years.
16
00:02:38,708 --> 00:02:40,784
How did Vermeer do it?
17
00:02:40,877 --> 00:02:43,284
Dutch artists typically learnt
by apprenticeship
18
00:02:43,379 --> 00:02:47,079
and they kept written records
to prove their training.
19
00:02:47,174 --> 00:02:50,756
But no such documents have ever
been found about Vermeer.
20
00:02:50,844 --> 00:02:54,923
And strangely, when you x-ray
these intricate images,
21
00:02:55,014 --> 00:02:58,631
you don't find the usual
artist's sketches underneath.
22
00:02:58,725 --> 00:03:02,259
lt's as if Vermeer were
some unfathomable genius
23
00:03:02,353 --> 00:03:07,145
who could just walk up to a canvas
and magically paint with light.
24
00:03:10,151 --> 00:03:12,903
lt's possible that Vermeer
was using technology
25
00:03:12,987 --> 00:03:15,063
to make these beautiful paintings.
26
00:03:15,156 --> 00:03:18,987
lf he did that, and, of course,
there's no documentation that he did this,
27
00:03:19,076 --> 00:03:25,789
it's possibIe he couId paint some pretty
remarkabIe pictures without a Iot of training.
28
00:03:25,873 --> 00:03:31,163
It's possibIe that he was more
of an experimenter,
29
00:03:31,252 --> 00:03:33,624
more of a tinkerer, more of a geek.
30
00:03:33,713 --> 00:03:37,710
And, in that way, l feel a kinship with him,
because l'm a computer graphics guy,
31
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,298
and we use technoIogy
to make a reaIistic, beautifuI image,
32
00:03:41,386 --> 00:03:44,137
and it's possibIe that's exactIy
what Vermeer was doing.
33
00:03:45,681 --> 00:03:48,682
Tim Jenison is not a painter,
he's an inventor.
34
00:03:48,809 --> 00:03:52,058
He's always had a talent for figuring out
how things work.
35
00:03:52,145 --> 00:03:56,059
When Tim was growing up in lowa,
he got a broken player piano,
36
00:03:56,148 --> 00:03:58,817
repaired it, and taught himself
to play swing music
37
00:03:58,901 --> 00:04:03,277
by slowing down the piano rolls
so he could follow Fats Waller's fingers.
38
00:04:03,446 --> 00:04:06,980
Tim played keyboards in a rock band
for a couple of years
39
00:04:07,074 --> 00:04:10,692
and taught himself to fix anything electronic
that broke.
40
00:04:10,869 --> 00:04:12,363
The amazing wizard!
41
00:04:12,537 --> 00:04:14,862
He got married, had a family,
42
00:04:14,956 --> 00:04:19,083
and built a business repairing
pinball machines and video games.
43
00:04:19,209 --> 00:04:23,621
Then, around 1990, he invented
a way to turn personal computers
44
00:04:23,713 --> 00:04:26,204
into TVstudios for live broadcasting.
45
00:04:26,549 --> 00:04:30,000
He called it the Video Toaster,
and it won him an Emmy.
46
00:04:30,093 --> 00:04:33,592
That led him to other amazing achievements
like LightWave,
47
00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,170
a program for rendering 3D images,
48
00:04:36,265 --> 00:04:40,559
which won an Emmy for his company,
NewTek, in 2003.
49
00:04:40,894 --> 00:04:43,811
Tim's now based in San Antonio, Texas,
50
00:04:43,897 --> 00:04:46,518
and his company produces the TriCaster,
51
00:04:46,607 --> 00:04:50,190
used in broadcast, web,
and live performance.
52
00:04:50,903 --> 00:04:54,852
All this has given Tim the money
and free time to make things like this,
53
00:04:56,616 --> 00:04:58,822
Frankie, his lip-syncing duck.
54
00:05:02,079 --> 00:05:07,582
A plane made entirely of stuff from
a home improvement store.
55
00:05:07,667 --> 00:05:08,698
It's an eIectric moth.
56
00:05:08,793 --> 00:05:10,500
His electric moth.
57
00:05:10,586 --> 00:05:14,369
As you raise the Iight,
it comes up off the fIoor,
58
00:05:14,464 --> 00:05:17,963
and it stays at exactIy the same distance
under the Iight.
59
00:05:19,301 --> 00:05:21,128
And this.
60
00:05:32,062 --> 00:05:35,727
Here's the pipe organ Tim put together
from four different churches.
61
00:05:35,815 --> 00:05:38,436
Once I got started,
you have to have more pipes,
62
00:05:38,526 --> 00:05:42,143
because it's never quite enough,
so I've got three pipe organs here,
63
00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,647
pIus an eIectronic organ
that I'm using for the keyboard.
64
00:05:45,740 --> 00:05:49,073
Tim and I have been friends
for a reaIIy Iong time.
65
00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,077
If there was an artist,
he wouId draw it, what you see...
66
00:05:52,162 --> 00:05:54,914
We've cried together
at space shuttle launches.
67
00:05:54,998 --> 00:05:57,239
We flew his Learjet down to Cabo San Lucas
68
00:05:57,333 --> 00:05:59,906
to see the total eclipse of the sun.
69
00:06:00,002 --> 00:06:01,876
So, the deviI's in there.
70
00:06:01,962 --> 00:06:06,090
This is Penn, the Iast day he was abIe to see
71
00:06:06,174 --> 00:06:10,041
before he Iost God's most precious gift
Iooking at the ecIipse.
72
00:06:10,845 --> 00:06:13,928
Tim's been weightless
in an astronaut-training plane
73
00:06:14,014 --> 00:06:16,469
and he arranged for me to try it, too.
74
00:06:16,558 --> 00:06:19,843
l vomited into my own hair.
75
00:06:19,936 --> 00:06:24,264
Tim was not and is not a painter.
76
00:06:24,523 --> 00:06:28,816
So I didn't know he had
this whoIe IittIe sub-obsession
77
00:06:28,901 --> 00:06:31,474
with Vermeer.
78
00:06:31,695 --> 00:06:35,775
Tim's Vermeer project started
1 1 years back, in 2002,
79
00:06:35,866 --> 00:06:40,278
when his daughter gave him a copy
of David Hockney's book, Secret KnowIedge.
80
00:06:40,369 --> 00:06:44,616
Hockney wrote that
when pictures started to look less like this,
81
00:06:44,706 --> 00:06:46,284
and more like this,
82
00:06:46,374 --> 00:06:49,957
that was because artists had found
new tools to help them.
83
00:06:50,044 --> 00:06:55,204
ln 17th-century Holland, high quality lenses
and mirrors were in use everywhere.
84
00:06:55,299 --> 00:06:57,457
Telescopes were all the rage
85
00:06:57,550 --> 00:07:02,425
and science hobbyists were experimenting
with ways to project live images.
86
00:07:02,513 --> 00:07:05,466
Hockney challenged conventional wisdom
by suggesting
87
00:07:05,557 --> 00:07:09,257
that when artists of Vermeer's day
began to paint more accurately,
88
00:07:09,352 --> 00:07:13,396
they were no longer using just their eyes
and their imaginations.
89
00:07:13,481 --> 00:07:18,023
They were secretly getting help from
optical machines, like the camera obscura.
90
00:07:18,109 --> 00:07:22,486
Camera obscura is Latin for ''dark room''.
91
00:07:22,697 --> 00:07:24,488
Build a box, any size.
92
00:07:24,573 --> 00:07:26,482
Could be the size of a shoebox,
93
00:07:26,575 --> 00:07:29,445
but let's make this one big enough
to stand inside.
94
00:07:29,536 --> 00:07:31,409
lt's a dark room.
95
00:07:31,537 --> 00:07:35,830
Drill a little hole in one side of the box
and you see something surprising.
96
00:07:35,916 --> 00:07:39,450
The image of whatever is outside the box,
in the light,
97
00:07:39,544 --> 00:07:44,620
is projected on the wall opposite the hole,
only it's upside down and backwards.
98
00:07:44,757 --> 00:07:48,836
You can make the image brighter and clearer
by putting a lens in the hole,
99
00:07:48,927 --> 00:07:51,797
and you can change
the size of the image on the wall
100
00:07:51,888 --> 00:07:55,090
by changing the curvature
and position of the lens.
101
00:07:57,893 --> 00:08:00,727
Here's David Hockney on a TVspecial.
102
00:08:00,812 --> 00:08:03,100
He's inside a camera obscura,
103
00:08:03,189 --> 00:08:07,435
tracing the image of a live model
projected through a lens.
104
00:08:10,028 --> 00:08:11,937
Hockney was mostly focused on
105
00:08:12,030 --> 00:08:15,445
how a painter could have traced images
through a lens.
106
00:08:16,283 --> 00:08:21,988
To me, what was most striking
about the Vermeers, as a video guy,
107
00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:25,282
l'm looking at this image,
and l see a video signal.
108
00:08:25,374 --> 00:08:30,534
l see something that looks like
it came out of a video camera.
109
00:08:30,629 --> 00:08:35,539
So I thought about how a painter
couId actuaIIy copy that.
110
00:08:35,633 --> 00:08:40,875
Now, most peopIe that have pIayed
with a camera obscura
111
00:08:40,971 --> 00:08:45,513
got the idea that they couId take that
projected image and somehow paint on it.
112
00:08:45,641 --> 00:08:49,638
WeII, I've tried that and a Iot of peopIe
have tried it, it's impossibIe.
113
00:08:49,770 --> 00:08:53,019
What happens is it actuaIIy fights you,
it works against you,
114
00:08:53,106 --> 00:08:54,564
it's worse than nothing at aII.
115
00:08:55,232 --> 00:08:57,439
Painting on a projection just doesn't work.
116
00:08:57,526 --> 00:09:01,108
Here's a blue that matches very closely
the blue in the projection.
117
00:09:01,196 --> 00:09:03,069
lmagine this is wet paint.
118
00:09:03,156 --> 00:09:07,200
When you put it into the projection,
it looks way too dark.
119
00:09:07,326 --> 00:09:09,567
On the other hand, here's a perfect match.
120
00:09:09,661 --> 00:09:12,827
The colour that matches
the projected colour just right.
121
00:09:12,914 --> 00:09:15,950
The only colour that'll ever do that is white.
122
00:09:18,919 --> 00:09:21,623
Tim went around
the world studying Vermeer.
123
00:09:26,676 --> 00:09:29,510
They called it ''painting with light. ''
Vermeer ''painted with light. ''
124
00:09:29,595 --> 00:09:32,132
You can't paint with light,
you have to paint with paint.
125
00:09:32,222 --> 00:09:37,927
And so what they're really talking about
is this verisimilitude that Vermeer has,
126
00:09:38,018 --> 00:09:41,434
that it just pops.
127
00:09:41,521 --> 00:09:46,266
You see it from across the room
and it looks like a slide,
128
00:09:46,359 --> 00:09:49,359
it looks like a colour slide of Kodachrome.
129
00:10:10,504 --> 00:10:14,501
Seeing the Vermeers in person
was a revelation.
130
00:10:14,591 --> 00:10:17,840
lt reinforced to me that
l was on the right track.
131
00:10:17,927 --> 00:10:23,466
That what l was seeing was an accurate
representation of the colour in that room.
132
00:10:25,808 --> 00:10:32,474
I just had a hunch that there must be a way
to actuaIIy get the coIours accurate,
133
00:10:32,564 --> 00:10:33,975
with mechanicaI means.
134
00:10:34,065 --> 00:10:36,307
Some way you couId do that
in the 1 7th century.
135
00:10:36,526 --> 00:10:41,816
I remember just having this vague idea
of comparing two coIours with a mirror,
136
00:10:41,905 --> 00:10:44,443
and it didn't go any farther than that
for a Iong time.
137
00:10:44,532 --> 00:10:45,813
Sitting in the bathtub,
138
00:10:45,909 --> 00:10:48,992
you know, that's I guess where you have
your eureka moments,
139
00:10:49,078 --> 00:10:52,612
but, I don't know,
there's something about bath water...
140
00:10:52,706 --> 00:10:54,579
It's just very, very reIaxing.
141
00:10:54,666 --> 00:10:58,745
And I was just picturing that mirror
hanging there in space,
142
00:10:58,836 --> 00:11:02,252
and I pictured what I wouId see,
and there it was.
143
00:11:02,339 --> 00:11:07,000
And so I grabbed a piece of paper,
being carefuI not to get it wet,
144
00:11:07,093 --> 00:11:10,793
made a sketch, and that was where l realised
145
00:11:10,888 --> 00:11:14,932
Vermeer couId have used a mirror
to paint those paintings.
146
00:11:19,103 --> 00:11:23,764
To test this l propped up a high school
photograph of my father-in-law on the table.
147
00:11:23,857 --> 00:11:26,811
l put a piece of Masonite down here
to paint on.
148
00:11:26,901 --> 00:11:30,768
l set a small mirror at a 45-degree angle.
149
00:11:32,448 --> 00:11:36,148
And for the first time in my life,
l did just what Vermeer may have done.
150
00:11:36,284 --> 00:11:39,735
l picked up some oil paints and a brush.
151
00:11:39,829 --> 00:11:42,201
In Vermeer's camera
this wouId be a projection,
152
00:11:42,289 --> 00:11:44,282
a Iens is projecting this image.
153
00:11:44,374 --> 00:11:47,873
But to show the actuaI
mirror painting process,
154
00:11:47,961 --> 00:11:49,419
we're using a photograph here.
155
00:11:49,504 --> 00:11:55,007
You can see that there's a refIection,
and then there's my canvas down here.
156
00:11:55,092 --> 00:11:59,302
And right at the edge of the mirror,
I can see both things at once.
157
00:11:59,387 --> 00:12:01,011
I'm just going to appIy paint
158
00:12:01,097 --> 00:12:05,509
and either darken or Iighten the paint
untiI it's the same exact coIour.
159
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,767
And at that point,
when it's exactIy the same coIour,
160
00:12:08,853 --> 00:12:10,845
the edge of the mirror wiII disappear.
161
00:12:10,938 --> 00:12:15,018
AII right, and I'm an idiot at this,
162
00:12:15,108 --> 00:12:20,647
I have done this process
exactIy twice in my Iife before.
163
00:12:23,073 --> 00:12:26,940
What I'm doing is
I'm moving my head up and down
164
00:12:27,035 --> 00:12:30,735
so that I can see first the originaI
and then my canvas.
165
00:12:30,830 --> 00:12:34,115
I'm Iooking at both things at the same time.
166
00:12:34,208 --> 00:12:36,580
Right on the forehead,
you can see that they match,
167
00:12:36,668 --> 00:12:38,993
because you can't reaIIy see
the edge of the mirror.
168
00:12:39,087 --> 00:12:42,253
That's, that's your cIue that
you've matched the paint exactIy.
169
00:12:42,340 --> 00:12:46,040
It's not subjective, it's objective.
170
00:12:46,134 --> 00:12:50,630
I'm a piece of human photographic fiIm
at that point.
171
00:12:53,557 --> 00:12:56,344
What you're doing here
is you're essentiaIIy bIending?
172
00:12:56,435 --> 00:13:03,053
Yep, I am either darkening or Iightening
the paint that's aIready on the surface.
173
00:13:03,149 --> 00:13:06,849
You aren't tracing any Iines,
'cause there are no Iines.
174
00:13:06,944 --> 00:13:11,818
Yeah, that's a characteristic of the Vermeers
that makes them unusuaI,
175
00:13:11,906 --> 00:13:13,448
is that there weren't Iines,
176
00:13:13,532 --> 00:13:16,782
and there weren't any Iines
drawn underneath the paint either.
177
00:13:17,619 --> 00:13:20,952
It Iooks Iike there's these bIobs
that are emerging into a picture.
178
00:13:21,039 --> 00:13:22,948
It doesn't Iook Iike...
179
00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,456
The order you're doing stuff in is not a...
180
00:13:26,543 --> 00:13:28,251
It's not being done mentaIIy.
181
00:13:28,337 --> 00:13:29,416
No, it's...
182
00:13:29,504 --> 00:13:31,295
And that's what's so nutty about it.
183
00:13:31,381 --> 00:13:35,248
You know, if I was better at this,
it may be more systematic,
184
00:13:35,342 --> 00:13:38,711
I may evoIve into doing it
more systematicaIIy, but...
185
00:13:38,804 --> 00:13:40,511
No matter what I've tried,
186
00:13:40,597 --> 00:13:44,890
if I just spend enough time
comparing the mirror to the canvas
187
00:13:44,975 --> 00:13:49,304
and stirring the paint around,
it ends up Iooking Iike a photograph.
188
00:13:54,650 --> 00:13:57,900
And this was the result of Tim's experiment,
189
00:13:57,986 --> 00:14:00,559
it took him five hours.
190
00:14:03,241 --> 00:14:05,992
Not bad for a first oil painting.
191
00:14:14,208 --> 00:14:19,794
The father-in-law picture was proof enough
in my mind that Vermeer probably did this.
192
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:25,039
However, my father-in-law doesn't look like
a 17th-century Dutch woman,
193
00:14:25,134 --> 00:14:29,961
so l don't think it would be very
convincing evidence for a lot of people.
194
00:14:30,055 --> 00:14:34,052
So, l thought the best way would be
to really do a Vermeer.
195
00:14:34,142 --> 00:14:37,640
l had the suspicion that it was exactly
the same thing.
196
00:14:37,728 --> 00:14:40,764
lf l could do the father-in-law,
l could paint a Vermeer.
197
00:14:40,856 --> 00:14:45,019
lt seemed to me the most powerful
demonstration of the idea.
198
00:14:45,109 --> 00:14:50,529
The reason l chose The Music Lesson
is probably because, of all the paintings,
199
00:14:50,614 --> 00:14:54,658
l think The Music Lesson
is a great little laboratory,
200
00:14:54,742 --> 00:14:59,404
because it's so complete
and so self-contained.
201
00:14:59,496 --> 00:15:02,616
You know where the windows are,
you know how big the windows are,
202
00:15:02,707 --> 00:15:06,158
you can reconstruct the harpsichord
independent of the painting,
203
00:15:06,252 --> 00:15:10,960
the Spanish chair, the viola da gamba,
the rug, all these things could be procured,
204
00:15:11,048 --> 00:15:16,172
and their appearance is gonna be what it is,
independent of Vermeer's painting.
205
00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,178
lt's a little scientific experiment
waiting to happen.
206
00:15:28,020 --> 00:15:29,929
Before Tim went to all that trouble,
207
00:15:30,022 --> 00:15:32,939
we thought he should run
his idea by a working artist.
208
00:15:33,024 --> 00:15:34,269
So we called up our friend,
209
00:15:34,359 --> 00:15:37,608
Los Angeles-based painter
and entertainer, Martin Mull,
210
00:15:37,695 --> 00:15:42,440
and asked him to meet Tim
at a studio in Las Vegas and see his gizmo.
211
00:15:42,532 --> 00:15:45,070
Oh, my God.
212
00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,610
Oh, my God.
213
00:15:52,165 --> 00:15:53,446
HoIy cow.
214
00:15:53,542 --> 00:15:57,206
Took me about haIf an hour
to Iearn how to operate a paintbrush.
215
00:15:57,295 --> 00:16:00,628
Good for you, it took me 40 years.
216
00:16:00,714 --> 00:16:06,384
WeII, and the beauty of this technique
is that you can make mistakes
217
00:16:06,469 --> 00:16:10,632
and see what you did wrong instantIy
and try to fix it.
218
00:16:10,723 --> 00:16:12,680
This is astounding.
219
00:16:12,766 --> 00:16:14,557
So this is a camera obscura,
220
00:16:14,643 --> 00:16:19,138
typicaI of the type
that couId be found in the 1600's.
221
00:16:19,230 --> 00:16:22,396
This type of camera obscura
is caIIed a ''box camera obscura''.
222
00:16:22,483 --> 00:16:24,724
It generaIIy had a ground gIass Iike this.
223
00:16:24,818 --> 00:16:28,151
It has the abiIity to refocus
by moving the Iens in and out.
224
00:16:28,237 --> 00:16:32,021
The generaI consensus of peopIe
that beIieve Vermeer used optics
225
00:16:32,116 --> 00:16:36,860
was that he may have Iooked at that image
and been inspired by it.
226
00:16:36,953 --> 00:16:37,984
Yeah.
227
00:16:38,079 --> 00:16:39,193
And that's the end of the story.
228
00:16:42,082 --> 00:16:44,655
So now that we know there's a way
to copy the coIours exactIy,
229
00:16:44,751 --> 00:16:46,660
I'm proposing an aIternate history
of Vermeer.
230
00:16:46,753 --> 00:16:47,784
Okay.
231
00:16:47,879 --> 00:16:50,001
His father's an art deaIer,
he knows something about art,
232
00:16:50,089 --> 00:16:51,631
he wants to make a painting.
233
00:16:52,007 --> 00:16:53,466
He Iooks at this image...
234
00:16:53,550 --> 00:16:54,629
Okay.
235
00:16:54,718 --> 00:16:56,924
There's my daughter, NataIie.
236
00:16:57,178 --> 00:17:01,507
What if Vermeer took the camera,
turned it sideways, and now it's verticaI,
237
00:17:01,599 --> 00:17:04,172
-Iike my father-in-Iaw picture.
-Okay.
238
00:17:05,268 --> 00:17:07,640
He takes his canvas,
239
00:17:09,272 --> 00:17:13,221
and, the secret ingredient,
240
00:17:13,317 --> 00:17:14,479
the mirror.
241
00:17:14,568 --> 00:17:15,943
He positions the mirror here.
242
00:17:16,027 --> 00:17:17,687
Which corrects the inversion?
243
00:17:17,779 --> 00:17:20,020
-Yeah, it brings it back...
-And everything...
244
00:17:20,114 --> 00:17:23,483
And there it is! CIear as can be.
245
00:17:23,575 --> 00:17:27,655
So if he's in his Iiving room,
he puts up some curtains,
246
00:17:27,746 --> 00:17:28,990
controIs the Iight,
247
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:32,116
and now picks up his brush
and starts to paint.
248
00:17:33,709 --> 00:17:38,287
My guess is that the Girl with the Red Hat
is that first painting.
249
00:17:38,380 --> 00:17:40,835
-Wow.
-It's painted over the top of another painting.
250
00:17:40,923 --> 00:17:43,877
We can x-ray it and see that
there's something eIse underneath,
251
00:17:43,968 --> 00:17:45,960
so maybe this was just
a throwaway experiment.
252
00:18:00,732 --> 00:18:03,222
So I understand, Tim,
that when you go back to Texas,
253
00:18:03,317 --> 00:18:09,817
you're going to construct a repIica
of the exact room where Vermeer painted?
254
00:18:09,906 --> 00:18:11,020
Yeah.
255
00:18:11,115 --> 00:18:17,235
And you're going
to do a painting in his stead,
256
00:18:17,329 --> 00:18:18,574
am I right?
257
00:18:18,663 --> 00:18:19,742
Yep.
258
00:18:19,831 --> 00:18:23,413
Many of Vermeer's paintings appear
to have been painted in the same room,
259
00:18:23,501 --> 00:18:25,244
likely the north-facing room
260
00:18:25,336 --> 00:18:28,004
on the second floor
of the house Vermeer lived in.
261
00:18:28,088 --> 00:18:31,670
That's the room Tim plans to construct.
262
00:18:31,799 --> 00:18:37,919
I reaIIy hope to see firsthand
what Vermeer was up against,
263
00:18:38,013 --> 00:18:40,338
if he was using this technique.
264
00:18:42,308 --> 00:18:47,728
And try to get some idea
265
00:18:47,813 --> 00:18:49,639
of how Iong it wouId take,
266
00:18:49,731 --> 00:18:52,304
just to get the conditions right...
267
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,603
Just mundane things Iike how much
usabIe Iighting do you get in a day.
268
00:18:55,694 --> 00:18:57,568
So you're not going to use any artificiaI Iight.
269
00:18:57,654 --> 00:18:58,733
That's right.
270
00:18:58,822 --> 00:19:02,404
And I'm onIy going to use materiaIs
that Vermeer wouId have had.
271
00:19:02,492 --> 00:19:03,571
Okay.
272
00:19:03,659 --> 00:19:06,150
So, I'm going to force myseIf
into the constraint
273
00:19:06,245 --> 00:19:10,871
of having to grind the pigments
and, you know, make the paint,
274
00:19:10,957 --> 00:19:15,037
and use onIy pigments that he had access to
or that he used in his paintings.
275
00:19:15,127 --> 00:19:19,670
For his experiment, Tim wanted
to recreate, as closely as possible,
276
00:19:19,756 --> 00:19:22,329
the conditions that Vermeer
was working with.
277
00:19:22,425 --> 00:19:25,212
Back then you couIdn't just run down
to the paint store
278
00:19:25,303 --> 00:19:26,796
and pick up a tube of paint,
279
00:19:26,887 --> 00:19:30,053
so Tim had to Iearn how to grind
and mix the pigments,
280
00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:33,140
which I'm now taIking about
something I know nothing about,
281
00:19:33,226 --> 00:19:37,057
but of grinding the pigments
and adding in the oiI
282
00:19:37,187 --> 00:19:38,765
and however you make paint.
283
00:19:38,856 --> 00:19:41,856
If it were Ieft to me to make paint,
there wouId be no paint.
284
00:19:43,067 --> 00:19:44,858
I aIso Iearnt how to make Ienses.
285
00:19:44,944 --> 00:19:47,731
I couIdn't use a modern Iens,
they're too good.
286
00:19:47,821 --> 00:19:49,150
So I had to buiId one.
287
00:19:49,239 --> 00:19:53,402
So I had to make the form on a Iathe,
I had to meIt the gIass,
288
00:19:53,493 --> 00:19:56,992
I had to poIish it with
various grades of abrasives,
289
00:19:57,079 --> 00:20:00,863
just the way they made Ienses
in the 1 7th century.
290
00:20:00,957 --> 00:20:03,115
To be sure he was getting everything right,
291
00:20:03,209 --> 00:20:06,376
Tim took some time off of work
to fly to Holland.
292
00:20:06,462 --> 00:20:09,712
He visited Delft,
the city where Vermeer had lived,
293
00:20:09,798 --> 00:20:12,253
and studied the light and the architecture.
294
00:20:12,342 --> 00:20:15,841
So this is it, this is where Vermeer painted
those magicaI Iight pictures.
295
00:20:15,928 --> 00:20:19,213
He learnt to read Dutch,
he consulted with experts,
296
00:20:19,306 --> 00:20:23,599
measured furniture in museums,
and immersed himself in Vermeer's world.
297
00:20:30,983 --> 00:20:33,604
AII right, so move it in. Okay, good.
298
00:20:54,919 --> 00:20:59,415
I wouId Iike to get one exactIy Iike this.
Do you think you couId make one?
299
00:20:59,507 --> 00:21:00,704
That's possibIe, yes.
300
00:21:27,572 --> 00:21:31,900
When he got back to San Antonio,
Tim rented a warehouse that faced North,
301
00:21:31,992 --> 00:21:33,534
just like Vermeer's studio,
302
00:21:33,618 --> 00:21:36,489
and invited Professor Philip Steadman
over from London
303
00:21:36,579 --> 00:21:38,737
to look over his experiment.
304
00:21:38,831 --> 00:21:42,081
While some believe that Vermeer
painted from his imagination,
305
00:21:42,167 --> 00:21:46,247
Steadman found evidence that
Vermeer used optics.
306
00:21:46,337 --> 00:21:49,421
Steadman is the author of Vermeer's Camera.
307
00:21:49,507 --> 00:21:53,089
ln this book, Steadman analyses six
of Vermeer's paintings
308
00:21:53,177 --> 00:21:55,928
to determine the layout of Vermeer's studio.
309
00:21:56,012 --> 00:21:58,254
Then he uses geometry to figure out
310
00:21:58,348 --> 00:22:01,514
where the lens in a camera obscura
would have to go
311
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:04,055
to match each painting's viewpoint.
312
00:22:04,144 --> 00:22:07,927
Now he calculates the size of the projection
on Vermeer's back wall,
313
00:22:08,022 --> 00:22:12,315
and compares that to the size
of the corresponding painting.
314
00:22:13,944 --> 00:22:17,229
For all six, the sizes match exactly.
315
00:22:18,281 --> 00:22:21,317
lt doesn't seem like
that would happen by chance.
316
00:22:21,784 --> 00:22:25,235
Pretty convincing evidence
that Vermeer used a lens.
317
00:22:27,414 --> 00:22:29,322
WeII, teII me about what you're doing.
318
00:22:29,415 --> 00:22:32,451
Steadman's discovery fit perfectly
with Tim's mirror,
319
00:22:32,543 --> 00:22:35,164
so now Tim set up a test that would use both.
320
00:22:35,253 --> 00:22:38,586
And this, we wiII make
an attempt at painting this.
321
00:22:38,673 --> 00:22:40,831
-Okay.
-Using the mirror.
322
00:22:40,925 --> 00:22:42,383
So, now Iet's go inside the booth.
323
00:22:42,468 --> 00:22:43,463
Yeah.
324
00:22:43,552 --> 00:22:45,794
He and Steadman would try to paint a jug
325
00:22:45,887 --> 00:22:49,635
using his comparator mirror
inside a camera obscura,
326
00:22:49,724 --> 00:22:52,096
as Tim thought Vermeer had done.
327
00:22:55,979 --> 00:22:57,603
They take turns painting.
328
00:22:57,731 --> 00:23:00,304
lt doesn't matter who does the brushstrokes,
329
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,273
the process is objective,
330
00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:05,858
and any painter who uses it,
gets the same result.
331
00:23:10,283 --> 00:23:12,952
David Hockney's book came out
just after mine.
332
00:23:13,035 --> 00:23:14,992
What do you remember about the reaction?
333
00:23:15,079 --> 00:23:20,072
There was quite a controversy around
both books, wasn't there?
334
00:23:20,166 --> 00:23:22,242
Enormous, yes, yes.
335
00:23:22,335 --> 00:23:27,577
There was a Iot of upset, a reaIIy deep
anguish amongst the art historians.
336
00:23:27,672 --> 00:23:31,966
The painters were reIaxed.
337
00:23:32,093 --> 00:23:36,006
They said, you know,
''This is a technoIogy, fine, okay.''
338
00:23:36,096 --> 00:23:41,849
But there was something, a reaIIy deep
hurt amongst some of the art historians
339
00:23:41,934 --> 00:23:47,355
which was to do with intrusion
of amateurs and crass rationaIists
340
00:23:47,439 --> 00:23:50,689
into the preserves of art history.
341
00:23:50,775 --> 00:23:55,686
It was to do with a misunderstanding
of the nature of art
342
00:23:55,779 --> 00:23:58,614
and cheating and genius,
343
00:23:58,698 --> 00:24:03,525
and the idea that an opticaI method
is some sort of cheat,
344
00:24:03,619 --> 00:24:05,327
because these are very accurate,
measured perspectives.
345
00:24:05,412 --> 00:24:10,239
So, there are two ways you can do them.
You can produce them opticaIIy,
346
00:24:10,583 --> 00:24:12,741
or you can set them up geometricaIIy.
347
00:24:13,211 --> 00:24:18,002
If you set them up geometricaIIy,
you're using the standard methods,
348
00:24:18,090 --> 00:24:21,292
it's a machine, it's an aIgorithm,
you appIy the ruIes.
349
00:24:21,384 --> 00:24:23,044
Why is that not cheating?
350
00:24:23,136 --> 00:24:25,673
-ExactIy.
-Strange, isn't it?
351
00:24:27,514 --> 00:24:31,891
So, the onIy Iegitimate way to make
a painting is to just waIk up to the canvas,
352
00:24:31,976 --> 00:24:34,549
and aIIa prima paint it.
353
00:24:34,645 --> 00:24:38,263
But the reason it isn't cheating
is that it's hard.
354
00:24:38,357 --> 00:24:40,598
-Yes.
-It's geometry, it's mathematics.
355
00:24:40,692 --> 00:24:43,895
-WeII, this certainIy is not easy.
-This is not easy, no.
356
00:24:43,986 --> 00:24:47,437
-If Vermeer did this, it wasn't a time saver.
-No, indeed.
357
00:24:47,531 --> 00:24:53,900
I can't comprehend that someone
couId paint that from their imagination.
358
00:24:55,162 --> 00:24:56,241
No. Of course not.
359
00:24:56,330 --> 00:24:59,117
A human being is pretty
remarkabIe sometimes.
360
00:24:59,208 --> 00:25:03,121
To get objects at their true sizes,
361
00:25:03,211 --> 00:25:08,168
and to get aII the kind of Iuminous effects...
362
00:25:08,257 --> 00:25:13,167
Painters can do miracuIous things,
it's difficuIt to say, ''This is impossibIe,''
363
00:25:13,261 --> 00:25:17,044
but some things are more impossibIe
than others.
364
00:25:30,108 --> 00:25:32,943
I was gonna go right off the edge there.
365
00:25:33,778 --> 00:25:34,857
So.
366
00:25:34,946 --> 00:25:38,480
-Great. WeII, congratuIations.
-And you.
367
00:25:38,574 --> 00:25:39,819
Fantastic.
368
00:25:42,661 --> 00:25:46,989
I want to think that
this simpIe, eIegant device
369
00:25:47,081 --> 00:25:50,200
is something that Vermeer couId have used.
370
00:25:50,292 --> 00:25:53,458
There's no doubt it's practicaI,
and it's simpIe.
371
00:25:53,545 --> 00:25:54,920
You know, it's a pIain mirror.
372
00:25:55,004 --> 00:25:57,839
This is a 1 7th-century technoIogy,
they knew aII about mirrors,
373
00:25:57,923 --> 00:26:01,921
and you can imagine him perhaps thinking
of something Iike what Tim has thought of,
374
00:26:02,010 --> 00:26:05,509
but we know nothing from
a documentary point of view
375
00:26:05,597 --> 00:26:08,383
of how Vermeer worked,
there are no descriptions by him,
376
00:26:08,474 --> 00:26:11,759
by other peopIe, there are no drawings...
377
00:26:11,852 --> 00:26:13,643
We know very IittIe about his Iife.
378
00:26:13,728 --> 00:26:18,935
So the onIy reaI source of information
to answer a question Iike that
379
00:26:19,024 --> 00:26:20,602
wouId be the paintings themseIves.
380
00:26:20,693 --> 00:26:23,361
Using Tim's device, it isn't easy,
381
00:26:23,445 --> 00:26:27,193
but somehow it does turn you
into a machine.
382
00:26:27,281 --> 00:26:30,448
You become a machine.
Was Vermeer a machine?
383
00:26:31,827 --> 00:26:35,776
Maybe Vermeer was strong-minded enough
to think, ''I'II become a machine''.
384
00:26:38,332 --> 00:26:39,874
That little picture of the jug
385
00:26:39,959 --> 00:26:43,659
took Tim and Steadman
eight and a half hours to paint,
386
00:26:43,754 --> 00:26:45,545
and Tim's method worked.
387
00:26:45,630 --> 00:26:49,378
But they were painting in black and white,
and using powerful electric light
388
00:26:49,467 --> 00:26:52,218
that wouldn't have been around
in Vermeer's day.
389
00:26:52,302 --> 00:26:55,718
Would Tim's mirror work well enough
to paint The Music Lesson,
390
00:26:55,805 --> 00:26:58,557
in full colour, in natural light?
391
00:26:58,641 --> 00:27:02,887
To find that out Tim would need
Vermeer's room, and everything in it.
392
00:27:03,478 --> 00:27:09,729
But museums don't loan stuff from the 1600s
to video engineers with a wacky hobby.
393
00:27:10,985 --> 00:27:14,733
It wouId be nice if I couId have hired
somebody to buiId aII this
394
00:27:14,821 --> 00:27:17,110
but it was kind of an interactive process,
395
00:27:17,198 --> 00:27:22,571
you know, I had to first modeI the room
in LightWave 3D,
396
00:27:23,829 --> 00:27:27,612
working from the painting to get
the dimensions and the shapes right.
397
00:27:27,707 --> 00:27:31,122
Even though it was a Iot of work,
it was just easier for me to do it,
398
00:27:31,210 --> 00:27:33,202
because as I went I couId make sure
399
00:27:33,295 --> 00:27:36,498
that the furniture Iooked Iike
the furniture in the Vermeers.
400
00:27:36,923 --> 00:27:39,295
But Tim is not a dressmaker.
401
00:27:39,717 --> 00:27:40,880
Or a framer.
402
00:27:41,510 --> 00:27:43,716
Or a carpenter. Upholsterer.
403
00:27:44,137 --> 00:27:45,217
Glazier.
404
00:27:46,056 --> 00:27:49,175
Builder of virginals,
which is a type of harpsichord.
405
00:27:49,517 --> 00:27:50,762
Metalsmith.
406
00:27:50,851 --> 00:27:52,132
Furniture maker.
407
00:27:52,228 --> 00:27:53,722
Plasterer.
408
00:27:53,854 --> 00:27:55,016
Tile layer.
409
00:27:55,105 --> 00:27:57,346
Or a lens maker.
410
00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,065
But he's not an artist either.
411
00:27:59,567 --> 00:28:02,733
He used what he was, a technologist,
412
00:28:02,820 --> 00:28:05,524
to help him become
all those things he wasn't,
413
00:28:05,614 --> 00:28:08,401
so that he could build his room.
414
00:28:48,567 --> 00:28:49,811
This is fun.
415
00:28:50,818 --> 00:28:56,737
I mean, this is the reaI thing.
416
00:29:45,072 --> 00:29:47,610
Is it safe for there to be that much smoke?
417
00:29:47,699 --> 00:29:50,190
I don't know, I've never done this before!
418
00:29:50,285 --> 00:29:52,610
CouId it heat up and catch fire?
419
00:29:52,704 --> 00:29:57,080
-WeII, I guess. I don't know.
-Whatever!
420
00:29:57,166 --> 00:29:59,621
It's kind of cooI. Okay, here we go.
421
00:30:27,399 --> 00:30:30,684
Okay, I got a probIem with the virginaIs Ieg.
422
00:30:30,777 --> 00:30:34,193
It's supposed to be 36 and a haIf inches Iong,
423
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,692
but my Iathe onIy goes
424
00:30:39,701 --> 00:30:42,488
about 34 inches.
425
00:30:42,829 --> 00:30:45,367
I mean, I couId make the Ieg in two pieces.
426
00:30:45,456 --> 00:30:48,872
But I think what I'm gonna do
is I'm going to cut the Iathe in two.
427
00:31:00,636 --> 00:31:06,839
GeneraIIy, you don't take a fine
precision machine tooI and saw it in haIf,
428
00:31:07,266 --> 00:31:10,432
but power tooIs are made to be jury-rigged.
429
00:31:57,934 --> 00:31:59,392
Yeah, it's a big guitar.
430
00:32:02,437 --> 00:32:08,226
VioIa da gamba is caIIed a ''vioIa da gamba''
because ''gamba'' means Ieg,
431
00:32:08,693 --> 00:32:10,768
and you pIay it between your Iegs.
432
00:32:22,454 --> 00:32:23,569
I Iike it.
433
00:32:46,349 --> 00:32:48,342
I don't know much about woodworking.
434
00:32:50,478 --> 00:32:56,729
So I'm doing this, not out
of Iove for woodworking,
435
00:32:56,816 --> 00:32:58,441
but out of necessity
436
00:32:58,526 --> 00:33:04,694
because you just can't buy these
stupid chairs anywhere,
437
00:33:04,781 --> 00:33:06,275
and I need one.
438
00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:33,853
David Hockney is one
of Britain's greatest artists.
439
00:34:33,939 --> 00:34:36,560
He's famous for paintings like this.
440
00:34:36,650 --> 00:34:40,232
Since his optical theory got
Tim started on this journey,
441
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:44,531
he seemed the ideal person for Tim to talk to.
442
00:34:44,615 --> 00:34:48,114
Hockney invited us to visit,
so we all went to England.
443
00:34:50,662 --> 00:34:56,248
What l knew about David Hockney
was that he was a famous artist.
444
00:34:56,333 --> 00:34:59,832
But, reading his book, l could see
that he wasn't a typical artist,
445
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:03,169
that he was somewhat a scientist.
446
00:35:03,423 --> 00:35:07,883
PhiIip Steadman and David Hockney,
to my mind,
447
00:35:09,261 --> 00:35:11,633
to the mind of a sceptic,
448
00:35:11,721 --> 00:35:18,470
prove that Vermeer used some sort of device.
449
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:24,313
But Secret Knowledge,
and aII the PhiIip Steadman work,
450
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:30,442
are this wonderfuI, exciting, tingIy whodunit,
that never teIIs you who did it.
451
00:35:30,946 --> 00:35:33,863
Hockney showed
that artists were using lenses.
452
00:35:33,948 --> 00:35:36,569
Steadman argued that
Vermeer was using a lens.
453
00:35:36,659 --> 00:35:40,442
l believed that Vermeer must have
been using more than just a lens.
454
00:35:40,537 --> 00:35:44,451
The reason to go see Hockney was
to bounce this idea off him
455
00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:46,912
and see if he thought it was plausible.
456
00:35:47,293 --> 00:35:49,748
How did you figure this out?
What are you, a...
457
00:35:49,836 --> 00:35:52,753
WeII, I started thinking about it
after I read your book, and...
458
00:35:52,839 --> 00:35:54,796
Are you an opticaI... I mean...
459
00:35:54,882 --> 00:35:56,211
I design teIevision equipment.
460
00:35:56,300 --> 00:35:57,628
-That's my job.
-I see.
461
00:35:57,718 --> 00:36:01,762
So I know a bit about coIour and imagery.
462
00:36:01,847 --> 00:36:05,974
And I suspected Iooking at these
oId pictures from the GoIden Age,
463
00:36:06,058 --> 00:36:11,099
Caravaggio, Vermeer, van Eyck,
464
00:36:11,188 --> 00:36:16,561
that there must have been
a way to copy the tones.
465
00:36:16,692 --> 00:36:20,392
Because that's what's quite remarkabIe,
actuaIIy. Yes, it is.
466
00:36:20,487 --> 00:36:23,653
I need to stand on that side
of the tabIe for a second.
467
00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:27,073
So it's a mirror on a stick.
468
00:36:27,159 --> 00:36:28,190
AII right.
469
00:36:28,285 --> 00:36:32,993
This is what I saw when I was painting,
if you Iook straight down.
470
00:36:33,164 --> 00:36:35,370
And of course I started with a bIank...
471
00:36:35,458 --> 00:36:36,786
I see, yes. Yeah, yeah.
472
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.
473
00:36:41,171 --> 00:36:44,753
And that's how you work your way
from one part to the other.
474
00:36:44,841 --> 00:36:49,965
Now right at the edge of the mirror,
where you see both images,
475
00:36:50,054 --> 00:36:53,837
you can do a direct comparison of the tone.
476
00:36:53,932 --> 00:36:55,260
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
477
00:36:55,350 --> 00:36:58,054
And your eye can instantIy see,
because they're together,
478
00:36:58,144 --> 00:37:02,057
can see any contrast, and the edge
of the mirror basicaIIy disappears.
479
00:37:02,147 --> 00:37:06,014
When you have the right coIour
and onIy when you have the right coIour.
480
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:11,108
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see.
This is very ingenious.
481
00:37:11,530 --> 00:37:15,361
So you notice that there is no paraIIax
when you move your head,
482
00:37:15,450 --> 00:37:16,529
there is no shifting.
483
00:37:16,618 --> 00:37:18,526
-That's it, no.
-The two images stay Iocked together.
484
00:37:18,619 --> 00:37:19,947
-Why is that?
-Want to Iook through it?
485
00:37:20,037 --> 00:37:22,113
-How is that?
-I know, it's very cIever.
486
00:37:22,206 --> 00:37:26,831
I must say, the idea that the ItaIians,
when you think about the ItaIians,
487
00:37:26,918 --> 00:37:31,413
they Iove pictures,
the idea that they didn't use this
488
00:37:31,505 --> 00:37:36,843
because this wouId have been cheating,
I find chiIdish, absoIuteIy chiIdish.
489
00:37:36,926 --> 00:37:41,054
There's aIso this modern idea that
art and technoIogy must never meet.
490
00:37:41,180 --> 00:37:44,963
You know, you go to schooI for technoIogy
or you go to schooI for art
491
00:37:45,058 --> 00:37:46,766
but never for both.
492
00:37:46,851 --> 00:37:49,768
But in the GoIden Age,
they were one and the same person.
493
00:37:49,854 --> 00:37:50,933
Yeah.
494
00:37:51,021 --> 00:37:54,306
The interesting thing is that
if this was around then,
495
00:37:54,816 --> 00:37:57,521
we are seeing photographs.
496
00:37:57,986 --> 00:38:02,362
If they were using this
and exactIy copying that coIour.
497
00:38:02,448 --> 00:38:04,819
Yeah, weII, I mean...
498
00:38:04,908 --> 00:38:08,193
-It's a photo.
-Yeah.
499
00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:14,157
After seeing this, I mean,
it's not a compIicated piece of equipment,
500
00:38:14,249 --> 00:38:19,041
but how IikeIy do you think it is
that they may have done this?
501
00:38:19,128 --> 00:38:21,251
-I think it's very IikeIy.
-ReaIIy.
502
00:38:21,338 --> 00:38:23,829
Very IikeIy. Yeah, yeah, absoIuteIy IikeIy.
503
00:38:23,924 --> 00:38:27,339
I mean, I'm pretty positive optics...
504
00:38:27,427 --> 00:38:30,593
I mean, there's no expIanation
for the paintings without optics.
505
00:38:33,098 --> 00:38:35,885
But, you know, historicaI evidence,
506
00:38:35,976 --> 00:38:41,016
it'd be great to find a Iost Ietter
from Johannes Vermeer...
507
00:38:41,105 --> 00:38:42,599
Wait a minute.
508
00:38:42,982 --> 00:38:45,519
I put a joke Ietter in Secret Knowledge.
509
00:38:45,609 --> 00:38:46,640
You did?
510
00:38:46,735 --> 00:38:48,015
A joke Ietter.
511
00:38:48,111 --> 00:38:52,986
This is what historians were Iooking for.
From Hugo van der Goes to van Eyck.
512
00:38:55,284 --> 00:39:00,360
''CouId you go to ye
Brugge Mirror SuppIy Company
513
00:39:00,455 --> 00:39:05,246
''and get one of those makeup mirrors
for my wife, you know what I mean?''
514
00:39:06,877 --> 00:39:09,083
WeII, I said,
''You'II never find a Ietter Iike that.''
515
00:39:09,170 --> 00:39:10,830
-Yeah.
-They never wrote down...
516
00:39:10,922 --> 00:39:15,133
Van Eyck wouId not write down
the formuIas for the paint
517
00:39:16,176 --> 00:39:18,927
for the simpIe reason
that somebody might read them.
518
00:39:19,012 --> 00:39:20,506
And there were other peopIe
519
00:39:20,597 --> 00:39:22,221
that wouIdn't write 'em down.
520
00:39:22,306 --> 00:39:27,548
PeopIe were sworn to secrecy,
oaths that they took very seriousIy.
521
00:39:28,145 --> 00:39:31,513
You won't, you never...
It's naive to think you'II find something.
522
00:39:31,606 --> 00:39:34,939
Paintings are documents, aren't they?
Aren't they teIIing you a Iot?
523
00:39:36,777 --> 00:39:38,401
Paintings are documents.
524
00:39:38,487 --> 00:39:40,894
They contain the story of their own creation.
525
00:39:40,989 --> 00:39:44,024
Every brushstroke, every layer of colour,
every shadow
526
00:39:44,116 --> 00:39:46,868
represents another piece of information.
527
00:39:47,119 --> 00:39:51,745
To the trained eye, a painting can be read
as accurately as any written text.
528
00:39:52,290 --> 00:39:53,867
And you don't need a trained eye
529
00:39:53,958 --> 00:39:57,457
to see that Vermeer's look different
from his contemporaries.
530
00:39:57,544 --> 00:40:00,035
They look like video images.
531
00:40:00,130 --> 00:40:02,501
He painted the way a camera sees.
532
00:40:05,134 --> 00:40:06,877
Ever since photography was invented,
533
00:40:06,969 --> 00:40:10,218
people have been noticing optical things
about Vermeer.
534
00:40:10,305 --> 00:40:11,633
On the GirI with the Red Hat,
535
00:40:11,723 --> 00:40:14,807
there's this lion's head
in the foreground that's fuzzy.
536
00:40:14,892 --> 00:40:17,679
Your eye naturally refocuses
on whatever you're looking at,
537
00:40:17,769 --> 00:40:19,228
so something in the foreground
538
00:40:19,312 --> 00:40:22,147
is not going to appear to your eye
as out of focus.
539
00:40:22,232 --> 00:40:26,478
But it could be out of focus
if the image was projected with a lens.
540
00:40:27,319 --> 00:40:29,027
The so-called pointilles,
541
00:40:29,112 --> 00:40:34,984
these little circles of paint,
look similar to what you get in a bad lens.
542
00:40:35,659 --> 00:40:40,202
You look at the back of her jacket
and there's a faint blue line.
543
00:40:40,288 --> 00:40:46,491
And that looks a lot like chromatic aberration
which is what happens in a crude lens.
544
00:40:47,378 --> 00:40:51,161
The edges of objects can develop
this rainbow fringe around them.
545
00:40:51,965 --> 00:40:56,092
This faIIoff of Iight from the window
to the opposite corner
546
00:40:56,177 --> 00:40:59,960
is something that an artist reaIIy cannot see
the way a camera sees it.
547
00:41:00,055 --> 00:41:01,597
It's impossibIe to see it.
548
00:41:01,681 --> 00:41:05,263
But Vermeer painted it
the way a camera sees it.
549
00:41:05,768 --> 00:41:10,595
Is it possibIe that
some peopIe can see absoIute brightness,
550
00:41:10,689 --> 00:41:12,349
and most peopIe, can't?
551
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,013
You know, the way a musician
might have perfect pitch?
552
00:41:16,027 --> 00:41:19,477
You know, that's a question for a doctor.
553
00:41:19,738 --> 00:41:23,023
I'm CoIin BIakemore.
I'm a professor at Oxford.
554
00:41:23,241 --> 00:41:25,814
Or a scientist
that speciaIises in human vision.
555
00:41:25,910 --> 00:41:31,200
And I've spent most of my career studying
vision and the functions of the brain.
556
00:41:31,373 --> 00:41:33,863
Is Vermeer maybe some sort of a savant
557
00:41:33,958 --> 00:41:36,034
that's different
from the rest of the human race?
558
00:41:36,127 --> 00:41:38,249
What if someone said,
559
00:41:38,337 --> 00:41:43,876
''Maybe there's a savant who is so smart,
that he couId figure that out.''
560
00:41:43,967 --> 00:41:47,051
WeII, he's not smart. I mean,
he'd have to have a very strange retina.
561
00:41:47,178 --> 00:41:49,217
Our retinas are made the way they're made.
562
00:41:49,430 --> 00:41:51,837
The retina is an outgrowth of the brain.
563
00:41:51,932 --> 00:41:55,929
It's a very compIicated structure
in terms of its nervous organisation.
564
00:41:56,019 --> 00:41:58,426
The signaIs go through
a compIicated network,
565
00:41:58,521 --> 00:42:01,806
severaI Iayers
of different types of nerve ceIIs,
566
00:42:01,898 --> 00:42:05,646
before they finaIIy get back
to the Iast ceIIs in the chain
567
00:42:05,735 --> 00:42:08,308
whose fibres make up the optic nerve.
568
00:42:08,612 --> 00:42:14,033
The optic nerve has limited bandwidth,
so the signals have to be compressed.
569
00:42:14,117 --> 00:42:16,405
One thing we lose in that compression
570
00:42:16,494 --> 00:42:21,202
is the ability to record absolute brightness
the way a light metre can.
571
00:42:23,125 --> 00:42:27,667
When we see two values side by side,
it's easy to compare them.
572
00:42:28,212 --> 00:42:31,663
But when we split them,
that ability goes away.
573
00:42:33,425 --> 00:42:37,636
There just isn't any mechanism
in the human nervous system
574
00:42:38,221 --> 00:42:41,506
to turn the eye into a Iight metre.
575
00:42:41,807 --> 00:42:44,344
And this is a very cIever trick
for reducing information,
576
00:42:44,434 --> 00:42:48,348
but it's a disaster if you reaIIy want to know
about the appearance of the scene
577
00:42:48,437 --> 00:42:50,928
because you just can't do it with your brain.
578
00:42:51,732 --> 00:42:55,396
Look at the light on the back wall
of The Music Lesson.
579
00:42:55,485 --> 00:43:00,858
Every subtlety of brightness is recorded
with absolute photographic precision.
580
00:43:01,949 --> 00:43:05,115
The unaided human eye
is not equipped to do that.
581
00:43:05,493 --> 00:43:09,028
But if Vermeer used something
like Tim's device,
582
00:43:09,121 --> 00:43:11,328
the painting becomes possible.
583
00:43:12,291 --> 00:43:14,960
The Queen of England
owns Vermeer's Music Lesson
584
00:43:15,043 --> 00:43:17,166
and she has it there in Buckingham Palace.
585
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.
586
00:43:22,383 --> 00:43:26,629
But the Queen said no.
So we shot a whole tirade against the Queen.
587
00:43:35,602 --> 00:43:36,633
But then...
588
00:43:36,728 --> 00:43:39,432
WeII, I just came out of that buiIding.
589
00:43:40,231 --> 00:43:42,307
That's where the painting is,
Buckingham PaIace.
590
00:43:42,399 --> 00:43:46,977
The day before Tim returned home,
the Queen changed her Royal mind.
591
00:43:47,529 --> 00:43:51,395
She granted Tim a private audience
with The Music Lesson.
592
00:43:51,824 --> 00:43:54,445
He had 30 minutes to study the painting.
593
00:43:54,535 --> 00:43:58,579
The deal was, he could only record
the experience in his head,
594
00:43:58,663 --> 00:44:00,572
no photography allowed.
595
00:44:00,665 --> 00:44:02,823
And it was a great 30 minutes.
596
00:44:04,460 --> 00:44:06,416
The painting is amazing.
597
00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,004
It's very different than I thought it wouId be.
598
00:44:10,339 --> 00:44:13,506
The reproductions
don't do it any justice at aII.
599
00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:16,088
The coIours are more muted.
600
00:44:16,178 --> 00:44:20,175
It's sIightIy darker,
it's got a kind of an overaII bIuish cast.
601
00:44:23,309 --> 00:44:27,092
But the astounding thing
is the amount of detaiI.
602
00:44:27,312 --> 00:44:29,684
I put on my magnifying binocuIars
603
00:44:30,815 --> 00:44:35,108
and Iooked at the virginaIs, and every stroke
604
00:44:35,569 --> 00:44:38,107
of that decoration is there.
605
00:44:39,197 --> 00:44:42,114
The Persian carpet,
you can see the individuaI knots.
606
00:44:44,243 --> 00:44:50,280
The amount of devotion, or dedication,
or obsession
607
00:44:50,999 --> 00:44:53,205
to get that amount of detaiI
608
00:44:53,292 --> 00:44:56,542
that just makes a generaI impression
on the viewer,
609
00:44:57,879 --> 00:45:02,587
but must have taken months of hard work.
610
00:45:06,595 --> 00:45:09,216
I don't know if I can even come cIose.
611
00:45:11,432 --> 00:45:15,382
When Tim got back to San Antonio,
he was in trouble.
612
00:45:19,064 --> 00:45:21,056
When he looked directly at the virginals,
613
00:45:21,149 --> 00:45:26,273
he could see the intricate pattern of
interlocking seahorses that Vermeer painted.
614
00:45:28,405 --> 00:45:31,109
When he looked at the projection
in his camera obscura,
615
00:45:31,199 --> 00:45:35,362
all those delicate little lines were too fuzzy
and dim to paint.
616
00:45:36,036 --> 00:45:37,614
lt was a deal-killer.
617
00:45:37,704 --> 00:45:40,277
l had visions of a failed experiment.
618
00:45:40,915 --> 00:45:43,240
Tim knew there was something
he was missing.
619
00:45:44,252 --> 00:45:49,458
He experimented with increasingly
complex arrangements of lenses and mirrors.
620
00:45:49,798 --> 00:45:51,458
But nothing worked.
621
00:45:51,674 --> 00:45:53,963
Then Tim had an inspiration.
622
00:45:54,552 --> 00:45:58,798
He held a mirror against the wall
where the image was being projected.
623
00:45:59,806 --> 00:46:03,850
Now he could see a small circle of the room
sharp and clear
624
00:46:03,935 --> 00:46:06,260
and hundreds of times brighter.
625
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.
626
00:46:12,942 --> 00:46:17,568
Then he realised if he just replaced
the flat mirror with a concave mirror,
627
00:46:17,655 --> 00:46:19,647
like a shaving mirror,
628
00:46:19,740 --> 00:46:23,606
he could make the bright circle much larger.
629
00:46:24,619 --> 00:46:27,572
So I reaIised
that if I couId have an image that bright,
630
00:46:27,663 --> 00:46:29,371
I didn't have to have this darkroom,
631
00:46:29,456 --> 00:46:34,082
I couId paint in dayIight,
which is a huge, huge breakthrough.
632
00:46:34,919 --> 00:46:37,125
Tim started in the dark room.
633
00:46:37,254 --> 00:46:38,997
But the room is gone.
634
00:46:39,089 --> 00:46:41,496
The back wall is a concave mirror.
635
00:46:41,675 --> 00:46:45,672
All that's left
of the traditional camera obscura is the lens.
636
00:46:50,599 --> 00:46:56,553
Tim had invented a new optical instrument
or, perhaps, rediscovered a lost one.
637
00:46:57,188 --> 00:47:01,600
ln it, he could see well enough
to attempt Vermeer's level of detail.
638
00:47:02,817 --> 00:47:05,688
He had his room. He had his machine.
639
00:47:05,778 --> 00:47:08,020
He was now ready to paint.
640
00:48:00,407 --> 00:48:01,652
Oh, boy.
641
00:48:38,022 --> 00:48:40,643
Boy, you know, I'm not trying
to make this Iook Iike a Vermeer,
642
00:48:40,733 --> 00:48:42,393
but it reaIIy Iooks Iike a Vermeer.
643
00:49:08,423 --> 00:49:13,131
I was cIeaning up,
and getting ready to put my paIette away,
644
00:49:13,218 --> 00:49:16,753
caII it a day's work,
and I Iooked up at the monitor.
645
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.
646
00:49:24,436 --> 00:49:25,895
''How did that happen?''
647
00:49:25,979 --> 00:49:29,928
And that's the thought that went through
my head for just a coupIe miIIiseconds
648
00:49:30,024 --> 00:49:33,309
before I reaIised,
''No, I'm Iooking at the painting.''
649
00:49:34,278 --> 00:49:36,353
And it was just kind of Iike a...
650
00:50:21,484 --> 00:50:25,315
You know, this project
is a Iot Iike watching paint dry.
651
00:51:17,823 --> 00:51:20,859
l can paint the costumes
by putting them on mannequins.
652
00:51:20,951 --> 00:51:24,200
But to paint faces and hands,
l need to use people.
653
00:51:26,872 --> 00:51:29,541
l do everything l can to help them hold still.
654
00:51:30,792 --> 00:51:32,416
lt sort of works.
655
00:51:36,213 --> 00:51:38,834
My daughter CIaire is home for a month
from coIIege.
656
00:51:39,174 --> 00:51:41,250
And it's time to paint the girl,
657
00:51:41,468 --> 00:51:45,299
so I put two and two together,
and used CIaire.
658
00:51:45,388 --> 00:51:48,637
Her two sisters, are also in town,
Luren and Natalie.
659
00:51:48,724 --> 00:51:52,673
So they worked on fitting the costume
and doing her hair
660
00:51:52,769 --> 00:51:55,722
so that it looks like the girl in the picture.
661
00:51:55,813 --> 00:52:00,309
When they got aII that on,
she was a dead ringer for the IittIe Dutch girI.
662
00:52:00,567 --> 00:52:04,232
With that completed,
we put her in the head clamp,
663
00:52:05,738 --> 00:52:07,814
and positioned her just right.
664
00:52:45,688 --> 00:52:49,270
Few students have ever been happier
to go back to school.
665
00:53:01,243 --> 00:53:02,951
I may repaint that.
666
00:53:08,249 --> 00:53:11,415
Excuse me a second.
The wind's trying to bIow my shade down.
667
00:53:11,502 --> 00:53:14,502
l thought you were having a ghost visitation.
668
00:53:27,890 --> 00:53:29,088
Fucker!
669
00:53:34,104 --> 00:53:35,598
Piece of shit.
670
00:53:37,982 --> 00:53:39,725
We're gonna have to go to pIan B here.
671
00:53:39,817 --> 00:53:44,644
The frame that has my window,
and my shades and stuff, it came Ioose
672
00:53:44,738 --> 00:53:47,857
and it feII over and I think everything's okay.
673
00:53:51,285 --> 00:53:52,316
AII right.
674
00:53:52,411 --> 00:53:56,242
I tend to buiId things
untiI they're just bareIy good enough.
675
00:53:56,790 --> 00:53:59,825
And sometimes that enveIope gets exceeded.
676
00:54:00,710 --> 00:54:05,335
So if anything falls askew,
your painting's in no danger, is that correct?
677
00:54:05,964 --> 00:54:07,956
No, I wouIdn't say that.
678
00:54:08,341 --> 00:54:10,547
-Okay.
-But, you know, I can aIways start over.
679
00:54:59,342 --> 00:55:01,548
Another interesting thing happened.
680
00:55:01,636 --> 00:55:03,628
What I noticed whiIe I was Iooking at this,
681
00:55:03,721 --> 00:55:07,634
I can see the straight Iines
of the seahorse there,
682
00:55:07,724 --> 00:55:12,848
and I can see the straight Iines
that I've ruIed aIready on the canvas,
683
00:55:12,937 --> 00:55:16,388
the framework of the virginaIs.
684
00:55:16,898 --> 00:55:20,730
AII those are perfectIy straight Iines
because I Iaid 'em out with a straight edge
685
00:55:20,818 --> 00:55:22,478
before I painted them.
686
00:55:22,570 --> 00:55:28,323
WeII, when I am trying to aIign this
very cIose now, within a tiny fraction,
687
00:55:28,408 --> 00:55:33,568
I can see that this straight Iine
isn't quite straight
688
00:55:34,371 --> 00:55:35,534
in the refIection.
689
00:55:35,622 --> 00:55:37,828
It's ever so sIightIy curved.
690
00:55:38,959 --> 00:55:43,169
ProbabIy not enough to throw me off
now that I'm aware of it,
691
00:55:43,254 --> 00:55:47,251
but if I had just IiteraIIy painted
that seahorse pattern,
692
00:55:47,924 --> 00:55:50,629
it wouId have ended up curved Iike this.
693
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.
694
00:56:00,727 --> 00:56:05,969
And I go,
''WeII, obviousIy Vermeer had no troubIe
695
00:56:07,149 --> 00:56:09,474
''painting those Iines straight.''
696
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:15,273
And then, I heId the painting sideways
Iike this
697
00:56:15,364 --> 00:56:18,199
and I'm Iooking down these straight Iines.
698
00:56:23,121 --> 00:56:25,576
And there's something reaIIy crazy
about this.
699
00:56:25,748 --> 00:56:29,827
The top and the bottom of the virginaIs
are absoIuteIy straight.
700
00:56:29,918 --> 00:56:33,002
Because when I Iook at it down here
at an angIe,
701
00:56:33,921 --> 00:56:36,459
I can see that it's a straight Iine.
702
00:56:37,299 --> 00:56:39,505
The seahorse motif is curved.
703
00:56:42,011 --> 00:56:43,671
It goes Iike this.
704
00:56:44,639 --> 00:56:48,089
You can't reaIIy teII untiI you Iook at it
705
00:56:49,434 --> 00:56:51,640
right down those Iines, but...
706
00:56:55,439 --> 00:56:56,684
There is a curvature in there.
707
00:56:56,774 --> 00:56:59,940
And there's reaIIy no IogicaI expIanation
for that
708
00:57:01,278 --> 00:57:04,029
unIess he was using something Iike this.
709
00:57:06,449 --> 00:57:10,944
Tim caIIs that bend in the seahorse pattern
the ''seahorse smiIe.''
710
00:57:11,369 --> 00:57:14,204
It's a fIaw in Vermeer's painting.
711
00:57:14,289 --> 00:57:20,160
A mistake that nobody noticed for 350 years,
and then Tim aImost made the same mistake.
712
00:57:20,252 --> 00:57:26,170
Tim is not Iooking for something
that wiII dupIicate Vermeer's mistake.
713
00:57:26,966 --> 00:57:29,883
You know,
he doesn't know Vermeer's mistake is there.
714
00:57:29,968 --> 00:57:33,135
That's either a remarkabIe coincidence
715
00:57:33,221 --> 00:57:38,013
or Vermeer was using Tim's machine,
or something very much Iike Tim's machine
716
00:57:38,100 --> 00:57:39,215
to do his painting.
717
00:57:39,310 --> 00:57:42,808
As Hockney said, paintings are documents,
718
00:57:42,896 --> 00:57:44,972
and here's a IittIe bit of evidence.
719
00:58:39,527 --> 00:58:42,397
Today I painted the seahorse motif.
720
00:58:42,488 --> 00:58:47,113
It was a Iot of work. I couIdn't reaIIy sit here
for more than 15, 20 minutes at a time.
721
00:58:47,575 --> 00:58:50,113
Your back just gets extremeIy tense.
722
00:58:50,369 --> 00:58:56,869
I tried to sit in the most reIaxed position
I couId find, which is Iike this.
723
00:58:58,376 --> 00:59:03,452
It's just reaIIy nerve-wracking, meticuIous,
demanding work.
724
00:59:03,547 --> 00:59:07,129
I'm not Iooking forward
to doing the rest of the instrument,
725
00:59:07,217 --> 00:59:09,090
but at Ieast I know it's doabIe.
726
01:00:10,478 --> 01:00:14,427
What I painted today is maybe, I expect
727
01:00:14,523 --> 01:00:19,480
wiII turn out to be the hardest part
of the painting, physicaIIy, to do.
728
01:02:02,780 --> 01:02:03,859
Man.
729
01:02:21,171 --> 01:02:25,547
WeII, yeah this is going to be short
because it's about 40 degrees in here.
730
01:02:25,633 --> 01:02:30,709
So KarI and I came in here this morning,
and Iooked at each other, Iike,
731
01:02:32,555 --> 01:02:35,556
''No.'' You know, it's reaIIy coId in here.
732
01:02:35,975 --> 01:02:41,313
So I go, ''Wait, I've got this heater
in the garage that I never assembIed.
733
01:02:41,396 --> 01:02:45,892
''I got it for Christmas a few years ago,
it's one of those patio heaters.''
734
01:02:48,027 --> 01:02:51,727
So, KarI said,
''Hey, I'II put it together, Iet's go get it.''
735
01:02:52,405 --> 01:02:55,489
So we went and got it, and put it together,
it's over there.
736
01:02:55,575 --> 01:02:59,738
And fired it up and it worked great.
It's nice and toasty, you know?
737
01:03:00,287 --> 01:03:02,860
KarI was sittin' over there with his computer,
738
01:03:02,956 --> 01:03:09,124
and I said, ''Hey, Iook up on there
to see if it's safe to use these indoors.''
739
01:03:12,464 --> 01:03:14,124
And KarI Iooks up and says,
740
01:03:14,215 --> 01:03:18,212
''Yeah, you know it says here
it's absoIuteIy not safe to use indoors.''
741
01:03:19,261 --> 01:03:23,093
And I said, ''Okay. WeII, Iet's just run it
742
01:03:24,140 --> 01:03:27,094
''and we'II be carefuI, okay?
743
01:03:27,185 --> 01:03:33,352
''So if we notice any symptoms
of carbon monoxide poisoning, you know,
744
01:03:33,440 --> 01:03:35,562
''we'II shut it off.''
745
01:03:35,650 --> 01:03:40,940
So I start painting, and I actuaIIy painted
an eIephant on The Music Lesson.
746
01:03:41,780 --> 01:03:45,860
I don't know why I put it there,
but it seemed Iike a good idea at the time.
747
01:03:45,950 --> 01:03:49,947
KarI actuaIIy, he put his head down,
748
01:03:51,538 --> 01:03:53,614
and he said, ''I need a nap.''
749
01:03:53,707 --> 01:03:56,280
I said, ''What did you say?''
He said, ''I need a nap.''
750
01:03:56,376 --> 01:04:00,539
I said, ''Okay, Iet's Ieave right now.''
751
01:04:01,964 --> 01:04:04,122
''Let's shut this thing off and go get Iunch.''
752
01:04:04,216 --> 01:04:06,753
And on the way to Iunch, driving to Iunch,
753
01:04:06,843 --> 01:04:09,879
everything sort of cIeared up again,
you know, we were in a fog.
754
01:04:09,970 --> 01:04:11,346
So anyway, that was a bad idea.
755
01:04:57,802 --> 01:04:59,711
It was kind of a weird day.
756
01:05:01,347 --> 01:05:04,550
I came in and started painting
this Iower cushion,
757
01:05:04,641 --> 01:05:08,425
and sort of a wave of revulsion
swept over me.
758
01:05:10,771 --> 01:05:15,516
l just wanted to do anything in the world
but sit here and paint for some reason.
759
01:05:17,193 --> 01:05:19,601
I don't know, just one of those things.
760
01:05:20,446 --> 01:05:24,230
But I am pretty much ready
for this painting to be finished.
761
01:05:26,368 --> 01:05:28,277
If we weren't making a fiIm, wouId I quit?
762
01:05:28,370 --> 01:05:32,497
Yeah, I definiteIy wouId. Yeah.
I'd find something eIse to do right now.
763
01:05:36,793 --> 01:05:40,921
WeII, yesterday
when I was painting this chair, I was aImost
764
01:05:44,216 --> 01:05:45,461
repuIsed by it.
765
01:05:45,551 --> 01:05:49,761
I think maybe subconsciousIy
I knew that it was wrong.
766
01:05:52,765 --> 01:05:57,510
And it just didn't Iook Iike
it beIonged in the painting to me,
767
01:05:57,602 --> 01:06:00,603
and I couIdn't
put my finger on the reason why.
768
01:06:01,397 --> 01:06:04,979
And as I was trying to get to sIeep Iast night,
769
01:06:05,067 --> 01:06:08,685
I was just sort of Iaying there
and I was visuaIizing that chair
770
01:06:08,778 --> 01:06:11,186
and I couId see it in my mind.
771
01:06:11,281 --> 01:06:14,447
And I go,
''You know, that's just the wrong bIue.
772
01:06:15,909 --> 01:06:18,151
''l should darken the legs. ''
773
01:06:19,579 --> 01:06:22,496
The top of the chair
can't possibly be tilted to the left.
774
01:06:22,582 --> 01:06:26,116
lt's like l'm seeing it
and that can't possibly be right.
775
01:06:26,210 --> 01:06:29,495
l realised that
l had bumped the lens out of position
776
01:06:29,588 --> 01:06:32,671
and that's why
the chair's perspective was wrong.
777
01:06:33,299 --> 01:06:35,172
It was totaIIy a subconscious thing.
778
01:06:35,259 --> 01:06:41,131
Maybe I do have an inner artist
that knew that was wrong.
779
01:07:29,429 --> 01:07:34,256
I thought that the rug wouId be
a IittIe more free-form painting.
780
01:07:34,350 --> 01:07:39,011
But this rug is cIose enough
to the opticaI equipment here
781
01:07:39,104 --> 01:07:42,686
that l can clearly see all those little stitches.
782
01:07:42,774 --> 01:07:47,898
And since I can see that, and since my ruIe
is ''paint what you see in the mirror,''
783
01:07:47,987 --> 01:07:50,275
if I want to get that kind of detaiI,
784
01:07:50,364 --> 01:07:55,488
I'm gonna have to
sort of make Iike the harpsichord here
785
01:07:56,327 --> 01:07:58,284
and just go for the detaiI.
786
01:08:28,062 --> 01:08:30,101
So, another day, more dots.
787
01:08:30,189 --> 01:08:31,351
Ditto yesterday.
788
01:08:31,857 --> 01:08:33,232
Just painting more dots.
789
01:09:29,488 --> 01:09:33,153
You know, it gets oId painting this carpet.
790
01:10:03,976 --> 01:10:05,351
Oh, my God.
791
01:10:12,733 --> 01:10:13,978
We're on.
792
01:10:15,902 --> 01:10:19,271
Okay, so I've been
franticaIIy running around here,
793
01:10:21,115 --> 01:10:22,775
setting up Iights.
794
01:10:27,078 --> 01:10:28,537
And it shows.
795
01:10:30,581 --> 01:10:33,747
Today is the denouement, of sorts.
796
01:10:34,543 --> 01:10:35,788
The varnish job.
797
01:10:36,044 --> 01:10:40,670
For the last several months
l've been promising myself
798
01:10:40,756 --> 01:10:43,461
that all would be better
when the varnish went on.
799
01:10:43,551 --> 01:10:49,006
Because as the paint dries,
it gets light, it gets chalky, it desaturates.
800
01:10:49,097 --> 01:10:51,504
l've been very anxious to do this.
801
01:10:53,684 --> 01:10:58,974
l went along slowly with a small brush
and finally l just grabbed a giant brush,
802
01:10:59,647 --> 01:11:03,230
sloshed it in the varnish
and just started going to town.
803
01:11:03,484 --> 01:11:06,650
And everywhere l touched was magic.
804
01:11:09,322 --> 01:11:11,149
lt's pretty astounding.
805
01:11:20,456 --> 01:11:22,413
WeII, you know, today...
806
01:11:28,380 --> 01:11:31,001
Today's the day I've been waiting for.
807
01:11:42,308 --> 01:11:43,636
I'm sorry.
808
01:11:52,483 --> 01:11:54,523
I can't beIieve it's finished.
809
01:11:58,697 --> 01:12:02,694
We took Tim's painting back to England
to show Hockney and Steadman.
810
01:12:05,661 --> 01:12:07,238
WeII, that's it.
811
01:12:14,585 --> 01:12:20,836
So, you know, it's my first ambitious attempt
at oiI painting,
812
01:12:22,383 --> 01:12:25,586
and that's kind of part of the experiment,
that I'm not a painter,
813
01:12:25,678 --> 01:12:28,251
but I was trying to show
the power of the concept.
814
01:12:28,347 --> 01:12:29,426
Yeah.
815
01:12:30,891 --> 01:12:33,049
This is terrific, I must say.
816
01:12:33,268 --> 01:12:39,103
We noticed this
when we were doing our Iens experiments.
817
01:12:39,439 --> 01:12:44,231
We noticed
that especiaIIy on these kind of cIoths,
818
01:12:44,735 --> 01:12:48,400
on the projection you saw every weave
819
01:12:48,489 --> 01:12:52,106
that you couIdn't in the reaI one,
and you get that in Vermeer.
820
01:12:52,200 --> 01:12:54,738
Now that's very, very effective.
Anybody Iooking at this...
821
01:12:54,827 --> 01:12:57,579
-I think this is better than Vermeer.
-Better than Vermeer?
822
01:12:57,663 --> 01:13:01,114
You do feeI the weave of the carpet.
823
01:13:01,208 --> 01:13:02,618
Yeah, you reaIIy do.
824
01:13:02,709 --> 01:13:04,417
It Iooks actuaIIy wooIIy, doesn't it?
825
01:13:04,502 --> 01:13:06,044
Amazing, actuaIIy.
826
01:13:07,671 --> 01:13:10,376
It had to be something simiIar, it had to be.
827
01:13:10,716 --> 01:13:13,633
I mean, there's no doubt
that you've proved one thing, Tim,
828
01:13:13,718 --> 01:13:18,878
that you can paint a painting
of this degree of detaiI and precision in...
829
01:13:18,973 --> 01:13:22,804
WeII, it's not exactIy a camera obscura,
but it's an opticaI machine.
830
01:13:22,892 --> 01:13:26,557
And that's reaIIy what I set out to prove,
is that it couId have been done that way.
831
01:13:26,646 --> 01:13:28,104
Sure. I mean there's no doubt about that.
832
01:13:28,189 --> 01:13:30,311
There's no way
that it proves that Vermeer did.
833
01:13:30,399 --> 01:13:34,396
That's the second question obviousIy, yes.
Did Vermeer work that way?
834
01:13:34,486 --> 01:13:38,814
Yeah, but it makes you rather convinced
that's what he did.
835
01:13:38,906 --> 01:13:42,072
I'm getting a IittIe more convinced
aII the time.
836
01:13:42,242 --> 01:13:44,863
I wouId say I'm about 90% there.
837
01:13:45,411 --> 01:13:50,653
But, you know,
if there was some historicaI record...
838
01:13:50,749 --> 01:13:54,793
I mean, the idea
that a painting isn't a historicaI record
839
01:13:54,878 --> 01:14:00,215
is from Iiterary peopIe who seem to just
not Iook at pictures and just read texts.
840
01:14:00,424 --> 01:14:02,250
This is a document in itseIf.
841
01:14:02,342 --> 01:14:05,212
I know peopIe are going on
about documents.
842
01:14:05,303 --> 01:14:08,506
Paintings and drawings are documents,
they teII you a great deaI.
843
01:14:08,597 --> 01:14:11,930
You've made a document
that's proving something, it is.
844
01:14:12,017 --> 01:14:14,175
It's fascinating.
845
01:14:14,686 --> 01:14:17,437
I mean, you set out to do some research.
846
01:14:17,647 --> 01:14:22,806
I think you've succeeded and, weII,
you've shown it's possibIe to do it.
847
01:14:23,985 --> 01:14:27,484
-As I say, if you've recorded it very weII...
-Yeah, yeah.
848
01:14:27,572 --> 01:14:29,979
I think it might disturb quite a Iot of peopIe.
849
01:14:30,074 --> 01:14:32,944
-I certainIy hope so.
-Which is fine, that's fine. Why not?
850
01:14:51,383 --> 01:14:53,708
My friend Tim painted a Vermeer.
851
01:14:54,386 --> 01:14:57,552
ln a warehouse, in San Antonio.
852
01:14:57,639 --> 01:14:59,465
He painted a Vermeer.
853
01:15:00,933 --> 01:15:03,850
And is Tim an artist, or is Tim an inventor?
854
01:15:04,061 --> 01:15:07,892
l think the problem is not trying
to pick one of those two for Tim to be,
855
01:15:07,981 --> 01:15:11,147
but the problem is
that we have that distinction.
856
01:15:12,359 --> 01:15:17,186
What Tim has done
is given us an image of Vermeer
857
01:15:17,280 --> 01:15:23,993
as a man who is much more real,
and in that way much more amazing.
858
01:15:25,662 --> 01:15:29,991
l mean, unfathomable genius
doesn't really mean anything.
859
01:15:30,666 --> 01:15:32,824
Now he's a fathomable genius.
860
01:15:44,011 --> 01:15:48,672
lf there's any great merit in this picture
as a work of art, it's Vermeer's.
861
01:15:49,515 --> 01:15:54,224
lt's Vermeer's composition
and it's Vermeer's invention.
862
01:15:54,686 --> 01:15:58,434
lt's just been forgotten for 350 years.
863
01:15:59,305 --> 01:16:05,726
Support us and become VIP member
to remove all ads from www.OpenSubtitles.org75907
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.