ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes computer image analysis of depicted convex mirrors to shed light on a number of questions in the art history of the early Renaissance. Simple computer image analysis has addressed another art historical claim about Memling and mirrors, but in this case concave mirror. Many devotional half-figured portrait diptychs, such as Memling's Virgin and Child and Maarten van Nieuwenhove, apparently did not function while hanging on a wall or column, nor were they fully opened with their wings placed at a straight angle of 180° when used in private devotional practice. The chapter summarizes main theoretical tools for studying the relationship between the mirror's location and shape, and corresponding observations. It analyzes in details such relationships, and demonstrates that these can be used to recover location geometry of a reflective surface. The chapter concludes by speculating on other art historical problems that might be addressed by such computer methods.
