# The Camera Obscura, in Neoclassicism

Charles Amédée Philippe Van Loo painted this in 1764, aged 45. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Our note:

> A young woman and two children lean into an oval stone window, absorbed in a wooden box with a brass-lined lens jutting from its side. The box is a camera obscura, an optical device that projects an image of whatever lies in front of it, and here it serves as a fashionable household amusement.

[Read the full label](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-camera-obscura-nga-32578#about-work)

## The work

- Date: 1764
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Dimensions: overall: 88.6 x 88.5 cm (34 7/8 x 34 13/16 in.) framed: 120.7 x 114.9 x 12.7 cm (47 1/2 x 45 1/4 x 5 in.)
- Type: Painting
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945.10.1
- Licence: CC0 1.0

## The artist

[Charles Amédée Philippe Van Loo](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/charles-amedee-philippe-van-loo), French, 1719–1795

Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo belonged to a celebrated family of painters: he was the son of Jean-Baptiste van Loo and nephew of Carle van Loo.

2 works in the collection.

## Walk on

- [Charles Amédée Philippe Van Loo's contemporaries](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/artist/contemporaries-of-charles-amedee-philippe-van-loo?hang=750) (8 works)
- [More paintings of the 18th century](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/style/painting-18?hang=750) (168 works)
- [18th-century France](https://www.ochreeditions.com/galleries/era/18-france?hang=750) (75 works)

## Get it

- [Print this work](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-camera-obscura-nga-32578#print)
- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1463.jpg?dl=1
- [The work's page](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-camera-obscura-nga-32578)