१९ ऑक्टोबर, २०१८

"Da Vinci is believed to have had a condition called intermittent exotropia — commonly referred to as being 'walleyed' — a form of strabismus, eye misalignment..."

"... that affects about 4 percent of the U.S. population. Those with exotropia usually end up favoring one eye over the other, which means they are more likely to see the world as if it were, say, painted on a flat canvas. 'When they’re in that condition . . . they’re only seeing the world monocularly, with much reduced depth cues,' the study’s author, Christopher Tyler, a professor at City University of London and researcher at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco, told The Washington Post. 'The image they’re seeing is much closer to what they want to paint on the canvas.' ... But in da Vinci’s case, the painter was, at times, able to control his wandering eye, which in turn provided him with an artistic advantage, Tyler said, noting that the ability to switch between the two perspectives meant that da Vinci would 'be very aware of the 3-D and 2-D depth cues and the difference between them.' Tyler, who has studied da Vinci’s life for more than 20 years, said he started noticing the disorder’s telltale sign while examining works by both the artist himself and those done of him. In many cases, 'they had the eyes diverted,' he said. 'This is something I would notice, what I’m attuned to notice,' said Tyler, who specializes in studying binocular vision.... Previous studies analyzing eye alignment in self-portraits have suggested that painters such as Rembrandt, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso were also strabismic."

From "Leonardo da Vinci’s genius may be rooted in a common eye disorder, new study says" (WaPo).

A Picasso self-portrait:



What has he done to his eyes? Perhaps less than it appears.

५२ टिप्पण्या:

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

Meh. "x MAY have been caused by y" and then a lot of "evidence" is non-scientifically thrown around that supports the thesis. Nothing is proven. Everything is just consistent with the thesis.

This is a make-work piece for an otherwise unemployed person.

One last question: "Da Vinci is believed to have had" -- by whom is that believed, and why are they pushing this theory?

BarrySanders20 म्हणाले...

I've been collecting the artistic works of Marty Feldman for years. Someday the world will realize his true genius was not in film but art. My favorite is his merged impressionist/cubist watercolor titled "Walk This Way. No . . .This Way" and signed in his nom de plume Igor.

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

There is a disturbing trend in modern society to attribute genius or extraordinariness to having some kind of disorder, something wrong, something abnormal...out of place with the person in question.

This idea that for them to be extraordinary Lincoln has to be gay, Leonardo has to be autistic, Picasso has mis-aligned eyes. Pick your flavor of the month.

Is this some kind of veiled attempt by the people who write about this stuff to live vicariously through those extraordinary people because they themselves are "dis-ordered" somehow, but feel that they, their words, their thoughts are really extraordinary if only people could just appreciate me more?

I'm getting really tired of this. Clinton is great because she's a woman (somehow abnormal now...you know, protected class etc.), Obama is great because he's black.

Hate normal. Hate regular. Every day. All the time.

If Picasso had mis-aligned eyes...who cares. Tesla was normal. He was fine. Geniuses and extraordinary people can be extraordinary without having something "off". And if they do, it is not necessarily the source of their extraordinariness.

Is that a word? "Extraordinariness"

Ignorance is Bliss म्हणाले...

A Picasso self-portrait...

I would think the two right hands would be more of a concern...

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Just listening to Cherno's new Grant biography. His wife, Julia Dent Grant, had this condition too. She always wanted a side photo taken since it makes the person look wild head on , and a First Lady had to look good.

Interestingly, U. S. Grant worshiped her and would do anything for her.

Bill, Republic of Texas म्हणाले...

Was his nickname "Strabo"?

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

but in da Vinci’s case, the painter was, at times, able to control his wandering eye, which in turn provided him with an artistic advantage

I'm purty sure that lots of people had already figured out how to close one eye at a time, leaving the other one open BUT DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME UNLESS MOM AND DAD ARE BOTH THERE! which would provide them with an artistic advantage over people with Exotropia, which is also an underground city on Mars.

Bill, Republic of Texas म्हणाले...

I don't care how great an artist Feldman may have been, nothing could surpass his work in Young Frankenstein.

JAORE म्हणाले...

A Picasso self-portrait...

I would think the two right hands would be more of a concern...

If he had two right hands, he might have had two right feet. Any word on how well he could dance?

BarrySanders20 म्हणाले...

"Just listening to Cherno's new Grant biography."

Just finished the book. I was largely ignorant of Grant's life beyond Appomattox and the stigma of corruption in his administrations. It was a terrific book and I have a much deeper appreciation for Grant and what he accomplished.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM म्हणाले...

"Beethoven's genius may have been rooted in a hearing disorder"

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

That is why his colleagues called Da Vinci "Wash-Out".

Mark म्हणाले...

"Da Vinci" didn't have any condition. Why? Because his name was NOT "da Vinci."

"Da Vinci" is where he was from.

His name was Leonardo, from Vinci, a town in Tuscany.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

Jean Paul Sartre had a funny way of looking at things.

SeanF म्हणाले...

Pablo Picasso didn't die until 1973, for pete's sake. There are lots of actual photographs of him.

In my (untrained) opinion, he looks like he might be mildly wall-eyed, but not nearly as extreme as in that self-portrait.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

This is what passes for scholarship in the 21st century academy. Speculation built on speculation.

Michael K म्हणाले...

People with exotropia, and esotropia, quickly develop amblyopia in one eye. That is because the brain suppresses the double image (diplopia) and, if it goes on long enough, the suppression is permanent. That is why a child with eso- or exotropia should have one eye patched and alternate patches until they are old enough (about 2) to have the eye muscle surgery.

My oldest daughter had this surgery twice, first at 18 months and again about 3. She has binocular vision but, if she looks up, one eye lags. It's not noticeable unless you know about it. She qualifies each year with her handgun.

Michael K म्हणाले...

I don't believe that story.

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Thurber's biographers like to say astounding things such as that the loss of his eye in childhood was what accounted for his genius...My suspicion is that if Thurber's eye troubles can be said to account for anything about his life and career, they probably account for the difficulty he had seeing, for his having submitted to five eye operations, and maybe for his habit of writing short pieces, which are less physically (not psychologically) demanding than long pieces are.

- Vicki Hearne _Animal Happiness_ p.110-111

rhhardin म्हणाले...

Derrida _Memoirs of the Blind_ is a (picture) book of eye art. Check your university library.

Paul J म्हणाले...

Only one-eyed people understand both what it is to see and also what it is to be blind. Normally sighted people imagine it as a continual perception of blackness, like what you see when you close your eyes. But us one-eyes are hip that it is not like that at all.

SeanF म्हणाले...

Paul J: Only one-eyed people understand both what it is to see and also what it is to be blind. Normally sighted people imagine it as a continual perception of blackness, like what you see when you close your eyes. But us one-eyes are hip that it is not like that at all.

Someone once said that what blind people see is what you see when you look out your elbow.

It's not blackness, it's literally nothing.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

I can do this (switch between 3d and pretty much 2d.) I cannot paint like Da Vinci.

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

Couldn't a person just close one eye? How is this condition a major advantage?

Freeman Hunt म्हणाले...

The 2D ability is most useful in crowds, making it feel like other people are farther away.

Lewis Wetzel म्हणाले...

Just-so stories are not science. They are just interesting stories.

Lewis Wetzel म्हणाले...

There was a guy in my neighborhood with one eye. One day I happened to be a few cars behind him on the freeway. He seemed to find lane changes challenging. He cut things too close when passing. Scarily close. I mentioned it to him -- in a friendly way -- and he didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

Wince म्हणाले...

Althouse said...
What has he done to his eyes?

"He has his father's eyes."

gg6 म्हणाले...


ALTHOUSE Says: "A Picasso self-portrait: "What has he done to his eyes? Perhaps less than it appears."
'Less than it appears'!!...Oh, that's very good, very clever!....Hey!.... might that suggest he was actually a TRADITIONALIST painter - simply one with a funky dysfunction?!?

Kylos म्हणाले...

I have this condition (had surgery at 2 but it didn't fix the problem). That's the first time I've ever heard the term wall-eyed, but little kids do ask me about it all the time.

Wince म्हणाले...

Kylos said...
...but little kids do ask me about it all the time.

"I'm a kid. That's my job."

jimbino म्हणाले...

Born cross-eyed, I thought, until my first corrective surgery at age 12, that all women came with four boobs. Imagine the disappointment!

I remember also that when I relaxed on the toilet, the checkerboard black/white floor would rise up to just under my chin but would drop back to normal if I strained my eyes.

Other effects I noticed included the ability to move a person's hat (say) onto another's head by superimposing the two images, and back again. I was once told by a doc that I had had no stereo vision, but I later found I could easily adapt to mono-vision lenses, which not every "normal" person can manage to do.

rcocean म्हणाले...

Except for the "walter mitty" story, I never "got" thruber. He must be a great humorist because millions loved him.

Guess I never got his jokes.

rcocean म्हणाले...

A common movie trope is to have a character with a glass eye.

That he takes out to frighten people or win bets.

gerry म्हणाले...

might that suggest he was actually a TRADITIONALIST painter - simply one with a funky dysfunction?!?

Thank you, gg6. Now, at long last, Picasso makes sense to me.

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

@EDH Thanks for getting the reference.

Henry म्हणाले...

From "Leonardo da Vinci’s genius may be rooted in a common eye disorder, new study says"

Not a double-blind experiment.

Molly म्हणाले...

(eaglebeak)

Here we have an example of a materialist attempting to reduce genius to physicality. There are a large number of people with this and other similar ailments, but only one was Leonardo.

Sort of like the old explanation for El Greco, that he had an astigmatism. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14719962-400-el-greco-had-style-not-astigmatism/

By the same token, whatever was going on with Leonardo's eyes and vision, he had, to quote the New Scientist, style.

Rick.T. म्हणाले...

Had a professor in college with this condition. He liked to call on people by nodding at them. It was a bit confusing to know exactly who that was at times. Not sure if he was unaware of the effect or just enjoyed f*cking with us.

Rick.T. म्हणाले...

Cross-eyed AND painless:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY3tHQJegOM

"acts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things
Facts don't stain the furniture
Facts go out and slam the door
Facts are written all over your face
Facts continue to change their shape"

Talking Heads

Rosalyn C. म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Rosalyn C. म्हणाले...

Every artist who works in two dimensions deals with the issue of translating three dimensional space into two dimensions by learning how to see in a simplified way -- achieved by squinting. Instant flattening. Not hard to do. Not a medical condition. Please keep this information secret.

walter म्हणाले...

That Picasso selfie is less walleye, more flounder.
Girls could not resist his stare..

JaimeRoberto म्हणाले...

All that's missing is a caption that reads "Don't vote, boo".

FullMoon म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
gadfly म्हणाले...

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

"Starry Stary Night" lyrics, Don McLean

Michael Fitzgerald म्हणाले...

rcocean@1:34 PM ... I've seen most American movies made before 1990 and I can't recall a single instance where this "common movie trope" was actually employed. Not even in Sammy Davis movies, and he actually had a glass eye!

Big Mike म्हणाले...

Lots of Presidents have had eye problems, most notably Bill Clinton had a serious case of wandering eye.

walter म्हणाले...

Especially the one eye problem.

Lewis Wetzel म्हणाले...

I believe that the standard interpretation of Picasso is that he was trying to show the totality of the object he was painting. Perspective is a result of point of view, something the Medievals knew, and that Picasso had, perhaps, rediscovered. Perspective exists in imagination, not in reality. What we may think of as being realistic, the camera's point of view, is the POV from not from just one point in time (which we all share), but from one point in space (which we cannot share).
But maybe I am giving Picasso too much credit.

Michelle Dulak Thomson म्हणाले...

Mark,

OK, you said it first, but I second. "Da Vinci" is an indication of where Leonardo is from, not a surname. When "The Da Vinci Code" came out, many years ago, I wondered whether it would've been titled "The Of Arabia Code" had it been about Lawrence of Arabia.

I'm a musicologist, and we sometimes slip into the same error; the guy we know as "Palestrina," for example, is actually Pierluigi da Palestrina, and "Palestrina" isn't his surname but his birthplace. All the same ...

Michelle Dulak Thomson म्हणाले...

SeanF,

And yet what Jorge Luis Borges said about blindness is that, yes, it wasn't black, but more like blue-green. It wasn't like he was shut in a coal cellar; it's just that he couldn't see anything. Except blue-green.