4 ms·

Nice article but I doubt the premise. Rich people had their portraits and sculptures made long before the invention. Think on Nefertiti or the multiple depictio

Nice article but I doubt the premise. Rich people had their portraits and sculptures made long before the invention. Think on Nefertiti or the multiple depictions in Egypt. Still in Egypt, there are Fayum Portraits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayum_mummy_portraits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayum_mummy_portraits In Ancient Greece and especially Rome, there were hyper realistic sculptures of the rulers, generals and rich people. Pompeii art is realistic. Instead the article follows the path claiming that a technological invention brings with itself a change in human nature, a dubious argument always. Even today with all the selfies, people still relate to themselves in relationship to how they are perceived by others. And there are a lot of beautiful people who think they are ugly...

cobbzilla 10y ago
The point of the article was that regular, ordinary people didn't see their own faces clearly until fairly recently, and when that happened it shifted the sense of self and identity with long-term ramifications.
- bane 10y ago
  You can always just look at your reflection in a dark, still, liquid, like soup, or dirty water, or clear liquid in a dark container, etc. Sure you're looking down and it's kind of inconvenient, but it's not like people couldn't see themselves ever.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    Yeah, this was never a secret. The myth of Narcissus has him trapped by his own reflection in a pool of water. Household mirrors go way back, although the quality of the reflection you could get was well below where it is now.
- pointillistic 10y ago
  Good point, I still doubt the premise. Because you can claim by extension that photography was as radical a change. And there is little evidence to the fact. I claim that humans still primarily identify through the relationship with the others. Before or after the mirror. P.S. Fayum portraits that I mentioned where of all people, rich and poor.
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    > P.S. Fayum portraits that I mentioned where of all people, rich and poor. From your own link: > The patrons of the portraits apparently belonged to the affluent upper class of military personnel, civil servants and religious dignitaries. Not everyone could afford a mummy portrait; many mummies were found without one. Flinders Petrie states that only one or two per cent of the mummies he excavated were embellished with portraits.

cobbzilla 10y ago

The point of the article was that regular, ordinary people didn't see their own faces clearly until fairly recently, and when that happened it shifted the sense of self and identity with long-term ramifications.

bane 10y ago
You can always just look at your reflection in a dark, still, liquid, like soup, or dirty water, or clear liquid in a dark container, etc. Sure you're looking down and it's kind of inconvenient, but it's not like people couldn't see themselves ever.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  Yeah, this was never a secret. The myth of Narcissus has him trapped by his own reflection in a pool of water. Household mirrors go way back, although the quality of the reflection you could get was well below where it is now.
pointillistic 10y ago
Good point, I still doubt the premise. Because you can claim by extension that photography was as radical a change. And there is little evidence to the fact. I claim that humans still primarily identify through the relationship with the others. Before or after the mirror. P.S. Fayum portraits that I mentioned where of all people, rich and poor.
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  > P.S. Fayum portraits that I mentioned where of all people, rich and poor. From your own link: > The patrons of the portraits apparently belonged to the affluent upper class of military personnel, civil servants and religious dignitaries. Not everyone could afford a mummy portrait; many mummies were found without one. Flinders Petrie states that only one or two per cent of the mummies he excavated were embellished with portraits.