Museo Galileo
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Optical toys and anamorphoses
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The steady advances in geometrical optics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries fostered the wider application of the principles of the new science to the generation of amazing effects. These included anamorphoses, which became highly popular in the seventeenth century. An anamorphic application generally displays a figure intentionally deformed according to precise rules of perspective; the figure becomes visible again in its proper shape only if the image is observed by reflection in a mirror (in the shape of a cylinder, cone, or other form) or at a particular angle. Another frequent use of the technique was to create optical illusions. An admirable example is the fake dome of the church of Saint Ignatius in Rome. The ceiling is actually flat but, if observed from a precise point indicated on the floor, it gives the impression of being surmounted by a dome. Other spectacular applications of optical illusions are to be found in well-known paintings such as Holbein's "The Ambassadors," which, if observed at a grazing angle, shows an anamorphic image of a skull, and the "Portraits of Frederick III and of the Queen of Denmark" by Gert Dittmers, which show a cylindrical anamorphosis legible with a mirror.

Objects
Anamorphoses

Anamorphoses

Inv. 490
Maker unknown, 17th cent.

Mounted prismatic lens

Mounted prismatic lens

Inv. 768
Maker unknown, second half 18th cent.

Mounted prismatic lens

Mounted prismatic lens

Inv. 769
Maker unknown, second half 18th cent.

Mounted prismatic lens

Mounted prismatic lens

Inv. 770
Maker unknown, second half 18th cent.

Optical toy

Optical toy

Inv. 3196
Jean-François Niceron, 1642

Optical toy

Optical toy

Inv. 3197
Ludovico Buti, Italian, 1593

Optical toy

Optical toy

Inv. 3688
Artist unknown, 17th cent.

Prismatic lens with mount

Prismatic lens with mount

Inv. 2613
Maker unknown, second half 18th cent.

Prismatic lens with mount

Prismatic lens with mount

Inv. 2614
Maker unknown, second half 18th cent.