In this first full-length study of a largely forgotten optical\ndevice from the eighteenth century, Arnaud Maillet reconfigures our\nhistorical understanding of visual experience and meaning in\nrelation to notions of opacity, transparency, and imagination. Many\nare familiar with the Claude glass as a small black convex mirror\nused by artists and spectators of landscape to reflect a view and\nmake tonal values and areas of light and shade visible. In a\ngroundbreaking account, Maillet goes well beyond this particular\nfunction of the glass and situates it within a richer archaeology\nof Western thought, exploring the uncertainties and anxieties about\nmirrors, reflections, and their potential distortions. He takes us\nfrom the magical and occult background of the \“black mirror,\”\nthrough a full evaluation of its importance in the age of the\npicturesque, to its persistence in a range of technological and\nrepresentational practices, including photography, film, and\ncontemporary art. The Claude Glass is a lasting contribution to the\nhistory of Western visual culture.

\n\n