Ingres' optical device discovered!

[Jeff Fuchs]

It turns out Hockney was right. Ingres did use optical devices in creating his artwork. I'm attaching a picture of one, from Ingre's own self portrait. In this portrait, he is pictured at his easel, painting a portrait with the aid of this device. He was rumored to have at least two of these, that he hid away at night for safekeeping. They featured flexible lenses, which lost some of their elasticity over time. It is rumored that he had them buried with him when he died.

Hockney expects to find evidence that many realist artists have relied on these same optical devices over history.