reflections in a mirror, in a transparent glass surface, wild reflections on helmets or armour, reflections in the water …

1. portray reality, while subtly altering or distorting it,
create ambiguity and mystery,
reveal something that would otherwise lie out of sight

2. Reflections in paintings

3. reflections in a mirror, in a transparent glass surface,
wild reflections on helmets or armour, reflections in the water …

4. The myth of Narcissus told the ancient Greeks of the seductive power of reflection …

5. An scene simple and minimalist ...
Out of a pitch-black background appears the figure of the youth,
leaning over the dark waters in which his reflection can be seen.
In this painting, there is nothing but Narcissus and his reflection,
highlighting the obsessive focus of the youth. Everything else has faded.
Caravaggio Le Caravage
Narcissus
Narcisse
1594-1596
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

8. An unusual interpretation:
Hephaistos is inspecting his wife,
as Ares cowers under the bed at the right.
A small dog is drawing attention to Ares’ hiding place,
Aphrodite’s child, Eros, rests in a cradle behind them.
Skilful mirror- play:
the circular mirror-shield behind the bed reflects
an image of Hephaistos leaning over Aphrodite.
Jacopo Tintoretto
Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan
Mars et Vénus surpris par Vulcain
1551
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

12. The mirror-shield of Perseus …
the shield shows the target, implicitly putting the viewer
in the place of the hero.
Luca Giordano
Perseus and Medusa
Persée et Méduse
1660
Musée de Capodimonte, Naples

16. The shield that releases ...
In Torquato Tasso's 1581 epic poem Gerusalemme liberata
(Jerusalem Delivered), the legendary medieval knight Rinaldo
is bewitched by the beautiful sorceress Armida.
His friends, the knights Carlo and Ubaldo, enter her garden
and break her spell by showing Rinaldo a magic mirror-shield.
His military spirit reawakened, Rinaldo later rejoins his companions
in the enchanted forest.
Francesco Maffei
Rinaldo and the Mirror-Shield
Renaud et le Bouclier- Miroir
1650-55
Getty Center, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles

20. Perseus and Andromeda
looking at the image of Medusa's face reflected
on the surface of the water in a well.
Edward Burne-Jones
The Baleful Head
La tête funeste
1885
Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton

22. The city of Jerusalem in the background,
three women stand by the empty grave,
an angel,
three sleeping soldiers
...
exactly ... like an immensely hard modern steel mirror:
reflecting the scene the gleaming cuirass of one of the guards.
Hubert van Eyck
The three Marys at the Tomb
Les Trois Maries au Sépulcre
1425-1635
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Róterdam

26. The left-hand wing depicts the Crucifixion. It shows Christ's followers grieving in the
foreground, soldiers and spectators and a portrayal
of three crucified bodies in the upper-ground.
But the crowd is distracted.
One-third of the way up, two men lean against each other, taking it all in.
One has a shield slung over his shoulder.
It’s a small detail, but the shield is shiny enough to act as a mirror showing
the reflection of Two Holy women.
(Jan Van Eyck serves as a distorting mirror. It reflects the group of Holy women who,
as in the Bible, witness the crucifixion "from afar" and occupy the foreground.)
Jan van Eyck
Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, the left-hand wing
Diptyque de la Crucifixion et du Jugement dernier, panneau de gauche
1440-1441
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City

30. St. George stands in lavishly decorated armour,
raising his helmet and left hand to introduce van der Paele.
…
Van Eyck meticulously depicted the reflections of the armor:
the Virgin and Child is reflected multiplied on the dents of the helmet
and
the shield that the saint wears on the shoulder acts as a real
convex mirror reflecting another part of the scene: the white flag,
the red column
and ...
the smooth surface reflects a man dressed in dark blue
and wearing a red hat ... Van Eyck holding his brush
(Van Eyck had used a similar trick to include his self-portrait
in the portrait of The Arnolfini Portrait)
Jan van Eyck
Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele
La Vierge au chanoine Van der Paele
1434-1436
Groeninge Museum, Bruges

35. The central panel of the Gdansk Final Judgment includes two famous reflections.
In the celestial part, Christ is seated on the rainbow, with his feet resting
on a golden metal globe. He is surrounded by the twelve apostles,
before whom kneel Mary and Saint John the Baptist:
The reflection shows these large figures at both ends of the rainbow,
as well as the angel in green and the angel in orange.
In the center, San Miguel with his spear and his scale:
The reflection on the cuirass
features two figures - Virtue seated on the ground, and a damned man
walking on all fours
and
and presents the view of the entrance to Paradise - a large Gothic portal
flanked by a Romanesque tower.
Hans Memling
The Last Judgment, central panel
Le Jugement dernier, panneau central
1467-1471
Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk

40. Martyrdom of Saint Ursula. Last episode. Ursula rejects the marriage proposal
of the leader of the Huns and he kills her with an arrow.
The extreme care taken by Memling is confirmed in the elegance of the armour,
where reflections play a dramatically amplifying role.
In the young man’s armor next to Ursula, we see reflected the image of Ursula
and the chief tightening the bow,
likewise
the soldier next to the leader is reflected in the armor of the latter.
Hans Memling
Saint Ursula Shrine, 6.The Martyrdom of St. Ursula, part of the
Chasse de Ste Ursule, 6. Martyre de saint Ursule
1489
Memlingmuseum, Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges

43. According to the legend, at the time the Count was buried, Saint Stephen
and Saint Augustine descended in person from the heavens and buried him
with their own hands.
…
Saint Stephen ... a reflection on the breastplate
visual expression, through its location in the heart, that the count's life
was in imitation of that of the saint.
(... the metal also reflects the flesh and blood hand of the Mayor, just above)
El Greco
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz
L’Enterrement du comte d’Orgaz
1586
Iglesia de Santo Tomé, Toledo

46. A scene full of poetry, an almost magical sense of peace and quiet
a girl, absorbed in reading a letter ...
The reflection of the girl in the open window provides an indirect view
of the girl’s enigmatic face.
Johannes Vermeer
Girl reading a letter at an open window
La Liseuse à la fenêtre
1657-1659
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

49. On the wall, a mirror offers a disturbing reflection ...
that of the royal couple!
Margaret Theresa's parents, Philip IV and Mariana, blurred by their
reflection in the mirror, are the essential theme of the work.
The most common assumption is that the reflection shows the couple
in the pose they are holding for Velázquez as he paints them,
while their daughter watches;
and that the painting therefore shows their view of the scene.
Diego Velázquez.
Las Meninas or The Family of Philip IV
Les Ménines ou La Famille de Philippe IV
1656-1657
Museo del Prado, Madrid

52. Mary Magdalen at the dramatic moment of her conversion ...
The glow of the candle, reflected on the surface of a mirror,
symbolizes vanity and testifies to the sinner's spiritual commitment.
Georges de La Tour
Madeleine aux deux flammes
Magdalen with two flames
1650
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York

54. Van Eyck introduces us to a couple in the bridal chamber. ...
we go to Flanders, we are invited to the home of the Arnolfini couple!
…
On the back wall hangs a magnificent convex mirror.
It allows us to see "behind the scenes".
We see the spouses from behind, and two other people, dressed in blue
and red, looking at the couple: Van Eyck himself and his brother Hubert,
the witnesses to the wedding.
but ...
Have you noticed that the dog has disappeared in the mirror?
And then, our pretty little couple no longer holds hands!
So, simple error of the artist or hidden message,
the mystery still remains intact.
Jan van Eyck
The Arnolfini Portrait
Les Époux Arnolfini
1434
National Gallery, London

57. The reflection in a circular mirror ...
We can see the tiny figure of a man wearing a turban.
Is he a thief? He would seem to be spying on the couple as they count
their gold, while they would seem to be oblivious to his presence,
blinded by their greed ...
No, it is not "spying on the couple while they count their gold":
according to art historians' interpretation the man is inside the room,
he is reading a book and looking out of the window to the street.
Quentin Metsys Massys, Matsys or Matsijs
Le Prêteur et sa femme
The Moneylender and his Wife
1514
Musée du Louvre, Paris

60. An image of the activity of a goldsmith's workshop during the Renaissance.
…
a convex circular mirror ...
reflects two young men , one carries a falcon, a symbol of greed and pride.
The mirror is an allusion to pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins
or …
is a protective talisman, an anti-theft device, which the goldsmith would
have used to keep an eye on his clients, just as in present-day bank
or jewelers?
Petrus Christus
A Goldsmith in His Shop
Un orfèvre dans son atelier
1449
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

63. From a distance, we see two figures making music in a sunlit room.
...
Reflection ...
The mirror is slanted towards the virginal. In addition to the face
of the young woman, we see part of the table, the table covering
and the floor reflected in the mirror.
It’s interesting to note that Vermeer has also included the legs
of an artist’s easel in the reflection, showing us more of what
is behind us.
Is this a realistic depiction of how Vermeer worked – sitting at his easel,
with his subjects in front of him – or does the easel in fact suggest that
what we see has been carefully constructed by the painter?
Johannes Vermeer
Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman, The Music Lesson
La Leçon de musique
1662-1665
Royal Collection of the United Kingdom, Buckingham Palace, London

66. The glass ball illustrates the artist's supreme artistic accomplishment.
In it we can see Pieter Claesz himself painting the still life on the table.
The fleeting nature of the reflection reveals that his life, too, is limited.
However, through his painting the painter overcomes mortality
and secures his fame beyond his own death.
Pieter Claesz
Vanitas still life with self-portrait
Nature morte à l'autoportrait
1628
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

70. The most famous cityscape of the Dutch seventeenth century ...
The interplay of light and shade,
the impressive cloudy sky
and
the subtle reflections in the water
make this painting an absolute masterpiece …
Johannes Vermeer
View of Delft
Vue de Delft
1659-1660
Mauritshuis, The Hague

73. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Reflections in paintings
Reflets dans la peinture
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Music The Piano Guys A Thousand Years
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