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Visual impairment in art is a limited topic covered by research, with its focus being on how visually impaired people are represented in artwork throughout history. This is commonly portrayed through the inclusion of objects such as canes and dogs to symbolize blindness, [1] which is the most frequently depicted visual impairment in art. Many notable figures in art history, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, and Georgia O'Keeffe, were visually impaired, or theorized to be so.
The Moche culture of ancient Peru depicted the blind in their ceramics. [2]
In 1768, James Bruce discovered the tomb of Ramesses III, whereon its walls depicted images of blind harpists. [3] Their visual impairment was represented by having slits for eyes.
Representation of blind people in Medieval art often is portrayed with leashed dogs. Some examples include:
Representation of blind people in Renaissance art, similar to Medieval art, was conveyed through symbolic objects. Some examples include:
Blindness was portrayed in more literal terms as well, via closed eyes or in text. Some examples include:
Most representation found in Romantic art displays portraits of individuals who experience visual impairments.
In Modern art many different mediums have been used to portray visual impairments.
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath widely known for his diverse talents including his paintings and drawings. [11] After examining six of Da Vinci's works across three different techniques, researchers noted that the eye of the subject in each of his works turned outward. [12] One of these works included the famous depiction of the Vitruvian Man. The eyes were at an angle consistent with intermittent exotropia (deviated outward) which can alter the perception of people and objects to appear 2D. [12] The researchers theorize this may have contributed to Da Vinci's ability to capture space on a flat canvas. [12]
Guercino was an Italian Baroque painter who developed esotropia (a condition in which the eye turns inward). This affected his work causing his subjects to appear as having unusual facial features. [13]
Francis Bacon was an English Philosopher who dabbled in creating illustrations for his works. His illustrations often depict heavily distorted images that feature abnormalities in faces. This has been theorized to run consistent with dysmorphopsia, a brain condition that affects perception of objects. [14]
Rembrandt was a Dutch painter whose self portraits display an outward turned eye which would have caused a lack of depth perception called stereo blindness. [15] This meant that details were varied in his paintings.
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish printmaker and co-founder of the Cubist Movement. It is believed that he may have experienced strabismus, which is why his work is characterized by a lack of depth perception. [16]
Edgar Degas was a French impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. In 1870, he began noticing signs of decreasing vision which is attested to retinal degeneration. [17] The blurriness of his later paintings is usually attributed to his condition.
Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of Impressionism. He is widely known for his Water Lilies series. From 1912 to 1922, his vision declined due to cataracts. This affected the colour perception of his images which makes many of his paintings appear slightly blurry and yellowish in tone. [18]
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French Impressionist artist. He is alleged to have had myopia. [19]
Georgia O'Keeffe was an American artist who experienced symptoms of age-related macular degeneration in 1964. In her later works she enlisted assistants to help in painting her work, but kept credit of her works to herself. [20]
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci.
The Last Supper is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498. The painting represents the scene of the Last Supper of Jesus with the Twelve Apostles, as it is told in the Gospel of John – specifically the moment after Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him. Its handling of space, mastery of perspective, treatment of motion and complex display of human emotion has made it one of the Western world's most recognizable paintings and among Leonardo's most celebrated works. Some commentators consider it pivotal in inaugurating the transition into what is now termed the High Renaissance.
Christopher William Tyler is a neuroscientist, creator of the autostereogram, and is the Head of the Brain Imaging Center at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute He also holds a professorship at City University of London.
Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment– visual impairment may cause the individual difficulties with normal daily tasks including reading and walking. Low vision is a functional definition of visual impairment that is chronic, uncorrectable with treatment or conventional corrective lenses, and impacts daily living. As such low vision can be used as a disability metric and varies based on an individual's experience, environmental demands, accommodations, and access to services. The American Academy of Ophthalmology defines visual impairment as the best-corrected visual acuity of less than 20/40 in the better eye, and the World Health Organization defines it as a presenting acuity of less than 6/12 in the better eye. The term blindness is used for complete or nearly complete vision loss. In addition to the various permanent conditions, fleeting temporary vision impairment, amaurosis fugax, may occur, and may indicate serious medical problems. The abbreviation VIP is sometimes used for Visually Impaired Person, Persons or People.
The Portrait of a Musician is an unfinished painting widely attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1483–1487. Produced while Leonardo was in Milan, the work is painted in oils, and perhaps tempera, on a small panel of walnut wood. It is his only known male portrait painting, and the identity of its sitter has been closely debated among scholars.
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter and polymath who achieved legendary fame and iconic status within his own lifetime. His renown primarily rests upon his brilliant achievements as a painter, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, being two of the most famous artworks ever created, but also upon his diverse skills as a scientist and inventor. He became so highly valued during his lifetime that the King of France bore him home like a trophy of war, supported him in his old age and, according to legend, cradled his head as he died.
The Kunstareal is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany.
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and private persons, or they may be inspired by admiration or affection for the subject. Portraits often serve as important state and family records, as well as remembrances.
A retinal implant is a visual prosthesis for restoration of sight to patients blinded by retinal degeneration. The system is meant to partially restore useful vision to those who have lost their photoreceptors due to retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) or age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Retinal implants are being developed by a number of private companies and research institutions, and three types are in clinical trials: epiretinal, subretinal, and suprachoroidal. The implants introduce visual information into the retina by electrically stimulating the surviving retinal neurons. So far, elicited percepts had rather low resolution, and may be suitable for light perception and recognition of simple objects.
Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance from Lombardy, who worked in the studio of Leonardo da Vinci. Boltraffio and Bernardino Luini are the strongest artistic personalities to emerge from Leonardo's studio. According to Giorgio Vasari, he was of an aristocratic family and was born in Milan.
A self-portrait is a portrait of an artist made by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture. Portrait of a Man in a Turban by Jan van Eyck of 1433 may well be the earliest known panel self-portrait. He painted a separate portrait of his wife, and he belonged to the social group that had begun to commission portraits, already more common among wealthy Netherlanders than south of the Alps. The genre is venerable, but not until the Renaissance, with increased wealth and interest in the individual as a subject, did it become truly popular.
The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) left thousands of pages of writings and drawings, but rarely made any references to his personal life. The resulting uncertainty, combined with mythologized anecdotes from his lifetime, has resulted in much speculation and interest in Leonardo's personal life. Particularly, his personal relationships, philosophy, religion, vegetarianism, left-handedness and appearance.
Horses have appeared in works of art throughout history, frequently as depictions of the horse in battle. The horse appears less frequently in modern art, partly because the horse is no longer significant either as a mode of transportation or as an implement of war. Most modern representations are of famous contemporary horses, artwork associated with horse racing, or artwork associated with the historic cowboy or Native American tradition of the American West. In the United Kingdom, depictions of fox hunting and nostalgic rural scenes involving horses continue to be made.
People often see hidden faces in things. Depending on the circumstances, this is referred to as pareidolia, the perception or recognition of a specific pattern or form in something essentially different. It is thus also a kind of optical illusion. When an artist notices that two different things have a similar appearance, and draws or paints a picture making this similarity evident, they make images with double meanings. Many of these images are hidden faces or hidden skulls.
Blurred vision is an ocular symptom where vision becomes less precise and there is added difficulty to resolve fine details.
The 16th-century portrait Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda, painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo da Vinci, has been the subject of a considerable deal of speculation.
The portrait of a man in red chalk in the Royal Library of Turin is widely, though not universally, accepted as a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. It is thought that Leonardo da Vinci drew this self-portrait at about the age of 60. The portrait has been extensively reproduced and has become an iconic representation of Leonardo as a polymath or "Renaissance Man". Despite this, some historians and scholars disagree as to the true identity of the sitter.
Richard C. Muhlberger was an American art critic, and museum curator. He was Curator of Education for the Worcester Art Museum. He later became a professor of art history at Western New England College, and the vice-director for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but he is best recognized for his analysis of many famous art pieces.
La Scapigliata is an unfinished painting generally attributed to the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, and dated c. 1506–1508. Painted in oil, umber, and white lead pigments on a small poplar wood panel, its attribution remains controversial, with several experts attributing the work to a pupil of Leonardo. The painting has been admired for its captivating beauty, mysterious demeanor, and mastery of sfumato.
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute is a nonprofit research institute in San Francisco, California, with a focus on vision science and rehabilitation engineering. It was founded in 1959 by Arthur Jampolsky and Alan B. Scott, when some members of Stanford University's Ophthalmology Department elected to stay in San Francisco rather than move to Palo Alto.