We could have told them if they had asked us. When taking a portrait where should you focus on? The eyes. As long as the eyes are in sharp focus, we feel the whole picture is in focus and it makes for a more pleasing portrait.
Now, a University of British Columbia researcher has uncovered this same principle behind what makes Rembrandt’s masterful portraits so appealing. The technique Rembrandt used starts with sharp eyes, then uses sharp and blurry features on the face to guide the viewer’s gaze around a portrait, creating a special narrative and “calmer” viewing experience.
“When viewing the Rembrandt-like portraits, viewers fixated on the detailed eye faster and stayed there for longer periods of time, resulting in calmer eye movements,” says DiPaola, who is also an associate professor at Simon Fraser University and adjunct faculty at UBC’s Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre. “The transition from sharp to blurry edges, known as ‘lost and found edges,’ also directed the viewers eyes around the portrait in a sort of narrative.”
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