The famous illustration (I hesitate to call it a portrait) of Ockeghem (ca.1410-1497), from Paris Bibliotheque Nationale MS fr.1537, shows him wearing two-lense glasses or spectacles, looking more or less like the modern ones.
There is an article that mentions Ockeghem spectacles: Donald Greig, "The Issue of Ockeghem," Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, vol. 47, no.1-2 (1997) pp. 139-162. Greig states (p. 140) that the image dates "from some twenty years after Ockeghem's death", so even if not a portrait, it is certainly an early sixteenth-century work of visual art. An artist has no reason to "invent" spectacles for the image unless they existed. Early Music vol. 12 no. 2 has a good reproduction of the image on the back cover. Within that journal issue is the article: David Fallows, "Johannes Ockeghem: The changing image, the songs, and a new source," Early Music vol. 12 no. 2 (May 1984), pp. 218-230. Fallows comments on the glasses (and their case) and states that "The very ownership of glasses - and their prominently held case - suggests special distinction, for glasses at this stage were obtainable only from Italy". For this statement he cites (in an endnote) a German article, one that apparently discusses spectacles (one assumes). See also http://library.ferris.edu/scott/ockeghem.html (Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497) [a scholarly site, by all appearances]). or do an image search for "Ockeghem" on Google, which provides numerous links to examples of the images. Gordon J Callon School of Music Acadia University Wolfville Nova Scotia Canada B4P 2R6 http://ace.acadiau.ca/score/site-map.htm -----Original Message----- From: Ron Fletcher [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sat 11/25/2006 12:50 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LUTE] Re: Change of spec... John Dowland died in 1626. Certainly in the infancy of reading-glasses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses predate JD by 400 years. RT So, the lens/glasses were invented by the Chinese in the 12th century? Re-invented by a 14thC Italian monk - who then kept it secret? Astromer Johannes Kepller was the one I was thinking of as being credited with the first practical use of the lens in 1604 (There is a crater on the moon named after him). It is from this date that the lens found many more uses, in Europe and eventually England. In the 1640's wooden frames were still being used for glasses. Which makes me think that they would be rather clumsy back in Dowland's lifetime, difficult to obtain or be suitable for an individual's needs. Wikipeadia seems a bit vague on this era. (Taking a neutral stance I suppose?) - Any other information out there? Ron (UK) To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
