Facsimile of a perspective box by Samuel van Hoogstraten
For the exhibition ‘Rembrandt – Hoogstraten. Colour and Illusion’ (8 October 2024 – 12 January 2025), Factum Foundation created a facsimile of a perspective box made by Dutch artist Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678) and today at the National Gallery in London. Perspective and optical devices were popular in the Dutch Republic during the second half of the 17th century, but only about six survive today. Hoogstraten’s is the most complex and sophisticated in its representation of perspectives, and the only surviving example with two peepholes, giving views of the same interior from opposing directions.
The original box was recorded using photogrammetry at the National Gallery in April 2024 by Ferdinand Saumarez Smith and Celeste Anstruther. The high-resolution data was processed into a 3D model, from which the base structure was CNC-milled in plywood, treated and varnished to resemble the original wood. The colour was printed separately on gesso-coated panels before the facsimile was assembled.
