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Dark Mirror

A simple device that tranforms Nature into Art.

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James Gurney
May 13, 2025
∙ Paid

For centuries artist have used darkened mirrors and smoked lenses to help them view a real landscape in simplified tonal values

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By the nineteenth century these optical devices became widely known as “Lorrain mirrors” or “Claude glasses.” Their darkened reflections suggested the work of landscape painter Claude Lorrain (1604?-1682).

Lorrain himself, thou…

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