The Bottom Line
The artist David Hockney sets out his intriguing research into the techniques used by the Old Masters and his theories on how they used mirrors and lenses to create their paintings.
Pros
- Sets out Hockney’s evidence as it unfolded
- 460 illustrations illustrating his points
- Intriguing analysis of how old masters worked
Cons
- A lot of the evidence is circumstantial
- Correspondence section assumes you know who's who
Description
- Large format hardback book, 296 pages
- 460 illustrations, 402 in colour
- ISBN 0-500-23785-9
- Illustrations are all in the first section, the ‘visual evidence’
Guide Review - Secret Knowledge by David Hockney (First Edition)
This book enables you to follow David Hockney’s investigation into the techniques used by the Old Masters. It’s divided into three sections: the visual evidence, the textual evidence, and the correspondence. The visual evidence is packed with paintings and details of paintings to prove the use of optics and how the style of Western Art changed with the development of lenses and mirrors. It’s interspersed with Hockney’s own experiments with a camera lucida. The supporting textual evidence is extracts from documents he came across in his research. The third is extracts from a written correspondence with art experts. It’s well set out, enabling you to make up your own mind whether you support Hockney’s thesis.
