Alex McKay
Settler artist

The Claude mirror
The 18th century Instagram
 

What is a Claude mirror, and why use one?

 

A Claude mirror is an 18th century optical instrument used by artists, poets and tourists for viewing landscape. It is an opaque black slightly convex mirror, mostly small hand-held, used by turning one’s back to the desired view, holding the Claude mirror aloft, and viewing the landscape in the mirror, reversed and transformed. The Claude mirror miniaturized the view, intensified the colours, compressed tonal values and rendered everything, from the near to far, in sharp focus, transforming the view into something resembling a picture, that is a picturesque painting.

 

We aren’t quite clear on on this peculiar device came into favour, but it was very popular for about 150 years. William Gilpin on his Picturesque Tour of the River Wye used one, and had a large one mounted to the side of carriage to catch fleeting glimpses. The Claude mirror played a pivotal role in the development of tourism in the Wye Valley and the Lake District, in fact many of the ‘viewpoints’ marked on Ordnance Survey maps are Claude mirror views from the 18th c.

 

We know it was widely used and has historical significance, we know, by using it, that it is beautiful, but why install one, with a webcam, at Tintern Abbey now? It will be beautiful, it will stream live images 24/7, more importantly from dawn to dusk, of the many changing moods of Tintern Abbey, and given the viral nature of the live stream form 2006 to 20012, it is very likely to meet and exceed that kind of ongoing viral life, bringing to mind Tintern Abbey to people across the globe. That can’t be a bad thing.

 

Why not just a webcam? Webcams are generally much a muchness, banal even when they are of something beautiful. The equipment isn’t really designed to convey beauty, they are designed primarily for surveillance and security, to convey information, even if it at the expense of beauty. Webcams are rarely installed by artists, and when they are it is usually to conceptually comment on the technology, not to harness it to make something beautiful. Webcams are generally installed where they are convenient. Even when, for instance a hotel, wants to show their potential guest the spectacular view from the property, the camera is installed without regard to making a real composition, without regard to eliminating the distractions. I have seen hotel webcams that have the edge of the building, a rubbish tip, and the back of a sign, all with the intent of selling the view. There is nothing convenient about this project, where it goes is based upon the best view possible. And this is a trip across the Atlantic for me, not the next county over.