Rembrandt’s eye saw no depth

The 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn lacked stereoscopic vision, suggest two researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

An optical analysis of Rembrandt’s self-portraits reveals that his eyes tended to gaze away from each other rather than to focus on a single point, say Margaret S. Livingstone and Bevil R. Conway. The artist’s consequent lack of depth perception actually might have helped him render three dimensions onto flat surfaces, they say.