T3D Re: Pre-wheatstonian accidental stereopictures (was: from

[Peter Homer <P.J.Homer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 I also think I may have discovered an example of accidental stereo in a
painting . Although in this case it is post Wheatstone so the effect could
be deliberate. Magrittes "Man with a Newspaper" consists of four at first
sight identical pictures of a room except for the presence of the man of
the title in one of them ,they are aranged in a square. It is illustrated
in either amazing 3D or fantastic 3D as an example of stereo painting which
is where I first saw it. Later I found a large colour illustration in
Gaunts "The Surealists" it requires cross viewing and I noticed that there
are also parallax differences between the top and bottom images and these
can also be cross viewed stereoscopicaly if you view it on its side or even
a diagonal pair.
 Arthur Girling noticed the horizontal effect some time ago and published
an article on its stereo properties in the UK Stereoscopic Society Bulletin
as it was then. As far as I know this is the first reference to its
Stereoscopic properties and I only know of one art book on Magritte
published since then by Calvocoresii which mentions it . Arthur Girling
wrote to Madame Magritte his widow but she told him her husband never owned
as stereoscope or spoke a about stereo in any way.
This made me wonder if it could be accidental and my first thought was that
it may have been copied from a four image Carte-De-Visite photograph. But
In actual fact the painting is largely based on an illustration from a
medical journal from the 19th century which is a single image and an
engraving rather than a photograph.
 There is a similar effect with Magrittes painting "The Museum of A Night"
painted the year before (1927) which entirely consists of a quartered  box
with different objects in each quarter because of the oblique view point
the otherwise identical quarters also show three way stereo because of the
difference in parrallax. This is clearly accidental and I think this could
be the case with "Man With A Newspaper" I think Magritte wanted to produce
another compartmentalised painting with largely identical contents this
time which was also four rooms of a house. This would mean that the two
left hand rooms have  windows opening into the right hand ones but still
showing the same outdoor view that the left hand rooms have. But this makes
it more understandable in relation to Magrittes other paintings which are
usualy Surealist.
 To do this I think he first drew a box as with "The Museum of A Night"
probably the same one turned through 90 degrees and viewd obliquely from
the other direction. He then copied in the engraving in each quarter using
the corners of the compartments for the corners of the room in the
engraving and used that in each case as a reference for the rest of the
diagonals in the room (Windowsill etc) . This would give the quarters the
same stereo effect as with "The Museum of a Night" but in this case the
identical contents the furnishings of the room are also stereo and this
would be harder to achieve. He may have created a mock up of the original
engraving in each compartment using dolls house furniture which was not
identical with the engraving.    P.J.Homer



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