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I'm not sure sure about the lenses point. I read a book once about how William Herschel (1738-1822) spent an inordinate amount of time making lenses for his hom

I'm not sure sure about the lenses point. I read a book once about how William Herschel (1738-1822) spent an inordinate amount of time making lenses for his home-made telescopes, polishing them for hours and hours. These were probably far bigger and more precise than the kind of thing that an artist would need, but it gives the impression that lenses may not have been as readily available in the 17th century as you think. (The book was called 'The Age of Wonder' by Richard Holmes, if you're interested)

GregBuchholz 12y ago
I think that Herschel was more well know for reflectors, and he built one with a 1.2m diameter mirror. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope ...although I'm sure that he probably ground his own tiny lenses for the eyepieces. This site says that: "He began by putting together refracting telescopes from lenses and tubes that he bought, but quickly decided that refractors were too long and clumsy to handle." http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/scopes/herschel/ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/ground...
anigbrowl 12y ago
While it's circumstantial evidence, Vermeer lived only a few streets away from Anton van Leeuwenhoek (known as the father of microbiology, and who made numerous innovations in microscope design) in the tiny Dutch town of Delft - which also manages to famous for its university and fine china, despite having only ~25,000 people. Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhok definitely knew each other: van Leeuwenhok was the executor of Vermeer's will. So Vermeer certainly had access to state of the art techniques in optics. Delft is a lovely place, by the way, well worth a visit if you are in the Netherlands and like history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek

GregBuchholz 12y ago

I think that Herschel was more well know for reflectors, and he built one with a 1.2m diameter mirror. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40-foot_telescope ...although I'm sure that he probably ground his own tiny lenses for the eyepieces. This site says that: "He began by putting together refracting telescopes from lenses and tubes that he bought, but quickly decided that refractors were too long and clumsy to handle." http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/scopes/herschel/ http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/ground...

anigbrowl 12y ago

While it's circumstantial evidence, Vermeer lived only a few streets away from Anton van Leeuwenhoek (known as the father of microbiology, and who made numerous innovations in microscope design) in the tiny Dutch town of Delft - which also manages to famous for its university and fine china, despite having only ~25,000 people. Vermeer and Van Leeuwenhok definitely knew each other: van Leeuwenhok was the executor of Vermeer's will. So Vermeer certainly had access to state of the art techniques in optics. Delft is a lovely place, by the way, well worth a visit if you are in the Netherlands and like history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonie_van_Leeuwenhoek