BOSTON (Reuters) - [size=-1] Rembrandt, the 17th-century Dutch master known for his skill in using light to carry perspective, may have been wall-eyed, a U.S. researcher proposed on Wednesday.
[/size] [size=-1] An analysis of 36 self-portraits of the great painter suggest he had a strabismus -- a misalignment of one eye that caused it to point slightly outward. [/size]
[size=-1]This condition, popularly known as wall-eye, may have given Rembrandt van Rijn an advantage in translating three-dimensional scenes into two-dimensional paintings, said Margaret Livingstone, a Harvard Medical School neurobiologist. [/size]
[size=-1] "It illustrates that disabilities are not always disabilities. They may be assets in another realm," Livingstone said in an interview. [/size]
[size=-1] "I like the idea that there may be a biological basis for different talents, even if it's something as dumb as a lack of depth perception." [/size]
[size=-1] An inability to see with world with normal depth perception can be an advantage to an artist, who must flatten a view to render it accurately, Livingstone said. [/size]
[size=-1] Art teachers often advise students to close one eye when they compose a painting. Livingstone and Harvard co-author Bevil Conway looked at 36 self-portraits painted by the prolific artist. In 23 out of 24 oil paintings, Rembrandt's right eye gazes to the right while the left eye looks straight ahead, they write in a letter in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine [/size]
[size=-1] Livingstone said because the paintings were done looking in a mirror, the left eye is probably the one that was off center.
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[size=-1]Full Story
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[/size] [size=-1] An analysis of 36 self-portraits of the great painter suggest he had a strabismus -- a misalignment of one eye that caused it to point slightly outward. [/size]
[size=-1]This condition, popularly known as wall-eye, may have given Rembrandt van Rijn an advantage in translating three-dimensional scenes into two-dimensional paintings, said Margaret Livingstone, a Harvard Medical School neurobiologist. [/size]
[size=-1] "It illustrates that disabilities are not always disabilities. They may be assets in another realm," Livingstone said in an interview. [/size]
[size=-1] "I like the idea that there may be a biological basis for different talents, even if it's something as dumb as a lack of depth perception." [/size]
[size=-1] An inability to see with world with normal depth perception can be an advantage to an artist, who must flatten a view to render it accurately, Livingstone said. [/size]
[size=-1] Art teachers often advise students to close one eye when they compose a painting. Livingstone and Harvard co-author Bevil Conway looked at 36 self-portraits painted by the prolific artist. In 23 out of 24 oil paintings, Rembrandt's right eye gazes to the right while the left eye looks straight ahead, they write in a letter in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine [/size]
[size=-1] Livingstone said because the paintings were done looking in a mirror, the left eye is probably the one that was off center.
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[size=-1]Full Story
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