Leonardo Da Vinci drew a similar projection device in 1515, and other inquisitive minds began combining lenses and mirrors to create all manner of microscopes, telescopes, and optical illusions, although none of them were widely available to the public. The Magic Lantern, widely credited to Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens in 1659, was built upon the principles of the Camera Obscura and a century and a half’s worth of experiments with new optical technology. While these Ombres Chinoises , or Chinese Shadows, did have a cultural impact in the west, post-renaissance Europe was in a scientific fervor, and they faced stiff competition from an emerging technology that would soon become the preeminent means of projection for the next few centuries: THE MAGIC LANTERN While the craft was firmly rooted in Asia, it eventually spread westward, reaching the Middle East in the 13th or 14th century CE, and then to Europe with French missionaries returning from China in the late 17th century CE. Many cultures in Asia still practice their own versions of this early projection art with the addition of modern lighting. Diaphanous puppets made of cloth and leather emerged to cast an ethereal presence onto the stage. Performers told stories by casting their shadows on a back-lit cloth stage. When reflecting light off of the slightly concave mirror side, the decorative pattern on the opposite side is projected seemingly from nothing.Īround the same time in the 1st Millennium BCE, the development of Shadow Play theater performances took off in Asia. These little wonders featured intricate patterns and motifs on one side, with tiny imperfections introduced to the flat metal surface on the back. Skilled metalworkers created intricate brass “light penetration mirrors,” often known in the west as a Chinese Magic Mirror. The development of reflective technology was already well underway more than 2000 years ago in China’s Han Dynasty. The flipped image it produced, however, demonstrated that light travels in a straight line. From the Latin for “dark room,” the concept was employed throughout the world in a variety of novel ways, but until the advancements in optical mirrors and lenses of the 17th century, its potential as a projection tool was limited. If you have ever made a pinhole camera, you have made a Camera Obscura. The Han Chinese Philosopher Mozi and the Greek Philosopher Euclid both described the phenomenon of light passing through a small aperture and projecting an upside-down image on the other side, which would eventually become known as the Camera Obscura. We don’t know for certain at what point early humans learned how to make the shadow of their hand resemble a dog, or a bunny, or a bird, but we do know that scientists in the early days of recorded history already had a sophisticated understanding of the physics of light. Early projection arts relied on natural light and fire.
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