Editing Camera obscura (section)

===1650 to 1800: Introduction of the magic lantern, popular portable box-type drawing aid, painting aid===
The use of the ''camera obscura'' to project special shows to entertain an audience seems to have remained very rare. A description of what was most likely such a show in 1656 in France, was penned by the poet [[Jean Loret]], who expressed how rare and novel it was.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loret |first=Jean (1595?-1665) Auteur du texte |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62124533 |title=La muze historique, ou Recueil des lettres en vers contenant les nouvelles du temps : écrites à Son Altesse Mademoizelle de Longueville, depuis duchesse de Nemours (1650-1665). Tome 2 / par J. Loret |date=1857–1891 |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-date=20 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620083038/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62124533 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Parisian society were presented with upside-down images of palaces, ballet dancing and battling with swords. Loret felt somewhat frustrated that he did not know the secret that made this spectacle possible. There are several clues that this may have been a ''camera obscura'' show, rather than a very early [[magic lantern]] show, especially in the upside-down image and Loret's surprise that the energetic movements made no sound.<ref>{{Citation |last=Crangle |first=Richard |title='A Quite Rare Entertainment': An optical show in Paris in 1656 |date= |year= |url=https://www.magiclantern.org.uk/new-magic-lantern-journal/pdfs/4008787a.pdf |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220609025239/http://www.magiclantern.org.uk/new-magic-lantern-journal/pdfs/4008787a.pdf |archive-date=June 9, 2022 |url-status=live |publisher= |last2= |first2= |author-link= |author2-link=}}.</ref>

German Jesuit scientist [[Gaspar Schott]] heard from a traveler about a small ''camera obscura'' device he had seen in Spain, which one could carry under one arm and could be hidden under a coat. He then constructed his own sliding box ''camera obscura'', which could focus by sliding a wooden box part fitted inside another wooden box part. He wrote about this in his 1657 ''Magia universalis naturæ et artis'' (volume 1 – book 4 "Magia Optica" pages 199–201).

By 1659 the [[magic lantern]] was introduced and partly replaced the ''camera obscura'' as a projection device, while the ''camera obscura'' mostly remained popular as a drawing aid. The magic lantern can be regarded as a (box-type) ''camera obscura'' device that projects images rather than actual scenes. In 1668, [[Robert Hooke]] described the difference for an installation to project the delightful "various apparitions and disappearances, the motions, changes and actions" by means of a broad convex-glass in a ''camera obscura'' setup: "if the picture be transparent, reflect the rays of the sun so as that they may pass through it towards the place where it is to be represented; and let the picture be encompassed on every side with a board or cloth that no rays may pass beside it. If the object be a statue or some living creature, then it must be very much enlightened by casting the sun beams on it by refraction, reflexion, or both." For models that can't be inverted, like living animals or candles, he advised: "let two large glasses of convenient spheres be placed at appropriate distances".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, from Their Commencement, in 1665, to the Year 1800 |date=1809 |publisher=R. Baldwin |author=Robert Hooke |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92lnIw3oKGMC&q=It+produces+Effects+not+only+very+delightful%2C+but+to+such+as+know+the+contrivance%2C+very+wonderful%3B+so+that+Spectators%2C+not+well+versed+in+Opticks%2C&pg=PA269 |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=10 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110062752/https://books.google.com/books?id=92lnIw3oKGMC&q=It+produces+Effects+not+only+very+delightful%2C+but+to+such+as+know+the+contrivance%2C+very+wonderful%3B+so+that+Spectators%2C+not+well+versed+in+Opticks%2C&pg=PA269#v=snippet&q=It%20produces%20Effects%20not%20only%20very%20delightful%2C%20but%20to%20such%20as%20know%20the%20contrivance%2C%20very%20wonderful%3B%20so%20that%20Spectators%2C%20not%20well%20versed%20in%20Opticks%2C&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The 17th century [[Dutch Masters]], such as [[Johannes Vermeer]], were known for their magnificent attention to detail. It has been widely speculated that they made use of the ''camera obscura'',<ref name=":0" /> but the extent of their use by artists at this period remains a matter of fierce contention, recently revived by the [[Hockney–Falco thesis]].<ref name=Snyder/>

[[File:1676 Johann Sturm - Camerae Obscurae Portatilis.jpg|thumb|Illustration of a portable ''camera obscura'' device from [[Johann Sturm]], ''[[Collegium Experimentale]]'' (1676)]]
German philosopher [[Johann Sturm]] published an illustrated article about the construction of a portable ''camera obscura'' box with a 45° mirror and an oiled paper screen in the first volume of the proceedings of the [[Collegium Curiosum]], ''Collegium Experimentale, sive Curiosum'' (1676).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbMWAAAAQAAJ |title=Collegium experimentale, sive curiosum |first=Johann |last=Sturm |year=1676 |language=la |pages=161–163 |access-date=9 September 2017 |archive-date=10 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231110062754/https://books.google.com/books?id=nbMWAAAAQAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Johann Zahn]]'s ''Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive Telescopium'', published in 1685, contains many descriptions, diagrams, illustrations and sketches of both the ''camera obscura'' and the [[magic lantern]]. A hand-held device with a mirror-reflex mechanism was first proposed by [[Johann Zahn]] in 1685, a design that would later be used in photographic cameras.<ref>Gernsheim, pp. 5–6</ref>

The scientist Robert Hooke presented a paper in 1694 to the Royal Society, in which he described a portable ''camera obscura''. It was a cone-shaped box which fit onto the head and shoulders of its user.<ref>Wenczel, pg. 15</ref>

From the beginning of the 18th century, craftsmen and opticians would make ''camera obscura'' devices in the shape of books, which were much appreciated by lovers of optical devices.<ref name=Mannoni1 />

One chapter in the Conte [[Francesco Algarotti|Algarotti's]] ''Saggio sopra Pittura'' (1764) is dedicated to the use of a ''camera obscura'' ("optic chamber") in painting.<ref>{{cite book | first= Francesco | last= Algarotti | year= 1764 | title= ''Saggio sopra la pittura'' | editor= Presso Marco Coltellini, Livorno | pages= 59–63 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SNY9AAAAcAAJ | access-date= 23 March 2016 | archive-date= 10 November 2023 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231110062754/https://books.google.com/books?id=SNY9AAAAcAAJ | url-status= live }}</ref>

By the 18th century, following developments by [[Robert Boyle]] and [[Robert Hooke]], more easily portable models in boxes became available. These were extensively used by amateur artists while on their travels, but they were also employed by professionals, including [[Paul Sandby]] and [[Joshua Reynolds]], whose camera (disguised as a book) is now in the [[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum in London]]. Such cameras were later adapted by [[Joseph Nicephore Niepce]], [[Louis Daguerre]] and [[William Fox Talbot]] for creating the first photographs.
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[[Image:Camera obscura.png|upright|thumb|''camera obscura'' in [[Encyclopédie|''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'']]. 18th century]]