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Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileafter Hendrick Goltzius
This complex allegory of sight depicts an artist at his easel capturing the likeness of a nude model whose reflection is caught in a mirror held by a young Cupid. In the background, figures observe the heavens through a telescope and consult an armillary sphere, while various sundials and measuring tools litter the foreground. An eagle, traditionally symbolizing sharp vision and the ability to look directly at the sun, flies overhead to complete the personification of the sense of sight.
The print illustrates the early modern shift toward empirical observation, where the 'art of seeing' is augmented by lenses and mathematical instruments. It reflects the preoccupation with optics and visual truth found in the works of natural magicians and early scientists who sought to decode the 'Book of Nature' through precise measurement and the correction of human sensory limitations.
HG. Inuent. I. Saenr. scu Ioann: Janssonius excudit, 1616 Hac memini nocuisse atque oblectasse videntes.
Translation
HG. Invented. I. Saenr. sculped Ioann: Janssonius published, 1616 I remember that this has harmed and delighted those who see it.
Giambattista della Porta
Della Porta's Magia Naturalis (1558) was the era's primary text on optics, lenses, and the 'secrets' of visual perception and mirrors depicted here.
Francis Bacon
The emphasis on instruments to aid the human senses aligns with Baconian natural philosophy and the empirical investigation of the physical world.
Object
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Engraving
allegory
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the National Gallery of Art. Please see the Gallery's Open Access Policy.
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3015 × 4000 px
d541c2b13c822f324a11f7cc19243430f0006694
September 1, 2019
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.