vada abditae

By TomS

What should we call those things we see in drops of water? They are not reflections but what are they? Refractions?

Droplets like this are a window onto a mysterious world, a parallel reality. Flat glass and silver mirrors were quite a late invention (early 16th century). Before that the options were polished brass or the convex, mercury-filled mirrors we see in paintings like The Arnolfini Marriage. It must have been much like looking into one of these drops to shave or brush your hair.

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