ABSTRACT
Despite its irregularities and imperfections, the mirror was considered a wondrous instrument by our ancestors, allowing man not only to discover his own image and know himself better, but also, by means of the visible, to perceive the invisible. In the conceptual system of the Middle Ages, which was strongly influenced by Platonism, sight was the favored means of acquiring knowledge; through it one could experience the beautiful. The mirror was invested with exceptional symbolic importance because of its capacity to enhance visual acuity and to radiate light, the source of all beauty.
