Existing comment:
icture Puzzle of Christian V, King of Denmark and Norway
1685
Bendix Grodtschilling the Elder
Duke Frederick III of Gottorf's Kunstkammer featured several optical and mathematical instruments, including this picture puzzle. The piece playfully demonstrates the laws of perspective and light refraction. The panel pictures Queen Sophie Amalie of Denmark surrounded by eight royal ancestors. Gazing through the faceted lens in the eyepiece, however, one sees her son King Christian V of Denmark and Norway. Guessing the trick would have been an amusing game for the duke's guests. Video This animation conveys the experience of looking through the scope to find the king's image, then demonstrates how it is created in the lens. Each of the multiple refractions made by the faceted lens in the eyepiece captures one small fragment of every portrait surrounding Queen Sophie and the shards are reassembled for the viewer's eye into Christian V's likeness. |