Jean François Niceron

Jean-François Niceron (1613 – 22 September 1646) was a French mathematician, Minim friar, and painter of anamorphic art, on which he wrote the first book ("La Perspective Curieuse").

Jean Pierre-Niceron was his nephew [1] Jean-Pierre Nicéron. (NB: The 'e' in Niceron is unaccented)

Biography

Niceron was born in Paris, and showed mathematical abilities at an early age, studying under the famed mathematician Friar Marin Mersenne at the College de Nevers. In 1632, at the age of nineteen, he entered the Minim Friars to which his mentor belonged. He visited Rome twice.

He was also an artist of some note, and was interested in the uses of anamorphosis in religious art. He was acquainted with the leading scientists in France and Italy, such as Fermat, Descartes, Cavalieri and Kircher and was aware of all the latest theoretical developments. Intent on finding a scientific solution to the problems presented by perspective, Niceron worked out the geometrical algorithms for producing anamorphic art, and in 1638 published his definitive treatise, ‘La Perspective curieuse’.

Le Père Niceron worked on optics. He died in Aix.

His portrait was engraved by Lasne.

Publications

1. la perspective curieuse, 'Magie articielle des effets merveilleux de l'optique par la vision directe, Paris, 1638, in-fol., reissued together with l'Optique and the Catoptrique by P. Mersenne, ibid., 1652, in-fol. Niceron reworked it, augmented it by a large number of observations and translated it into Latin under the title: Thaumaturgus opticus, sive amiranda optices, etc., Paris, 1646, in-fol. This first part was to have been followed by two others, but the death of the author prevented this.

The 1663 edition can be downloaded from [2]. The 1638 edition is better. It used to be on [3]

This richly illustrated manual on perspective revealed for the first time the secrets of anamorphosis and trompe l'oeil. It contained the first published reference to Descartes's derivation of the law of refraction. First published in 1638 with 25 plates only, Niceron's work was later enlarged by Roberval in a far inferior edition (1663). Together with the first edition, posthumously published, of a scholarly work on optics and catoptics by Mersenne (1588–1648). In his major work, following the latest theoretical developments, Niceron concentrated primarily on the practical applications of perspective, catoptrics, and dioptrics, and on the illusory effects of optics, then traditionally associated with natural magic. Divided into four Books, the first Book presents briefly the fundamental geometrical theorems, and then develops a general method of perspective, borrowing heavily from Alberti and Dürer. The second Book addresses the problem of establishing perspective for paintings executed on curved or irregular surfaces, like vaults and niches, presents a general technique of anamorphosis. Here Niceron shows, for example, how to construct on the interior surface of a cone a distorted image which, when viewed from the end through the base, appears in proper proportion. Book three discusses and fully explains the anamorphosis of figures that are viewed by reflection from plane, cylindrical, and conical mirrors. Book four deals with the distortions created by refraction. The added work on optics by Niceron's colleague and confrère Mersenne contained the author's final contributions to optics, including experimental studies of visual acuity and binocular vision and a critical discussion of current hypotheses on the nature of light.

1. L'Interprétation des chiffres, ou Règle pour bien entendre et expliquer facilement toutes sortes de chiffres simples, tirée de italien et augmentée, particulièrement à l'usage des langues française et espagnole, Paris, 1641, in-8°. This work has been translated in part by Ant.-Marie Cospi.

See Also

• List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics

Source

"name", in Louis-Gabriel Michaud, Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne : histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes avec la collaboration de plus de 300 savants et littérateurs français ou étrangers, 2nd edition, 1843–1865

• P. J. S. Whitmore: The Order of Minims in Seventeenth-Century France [4]
• A. De Rosa (with Ilaria Rizzini and Giuseppe D’Acunto), edited by,: Between Perspective and Magic: Jean François Niceron, with critical edition of Thaumaturgus Opticus (1643) (forthcoming in 2011)
• A. De Rosa, Through a glass darkly: life and work Minim Jean-François Nicéron, in “Bollettino Ufficiale dell’Ordine dei Minimi”, n° 5, year LI, January–March 2005.
• A. De Rosa, The Optiks Apocalipse. The twin anamorphosis by Emmanuel Maignan and Jean-François Nicéron, in “Ikhnos”, Siracusa 2006.
• G. D’Acunto, Jean-François Nicéron's Thaumaturgus opticus: between scientific precision and natural magic, in “Bollettino Ufficiale dell’Ordine dei Minimi”, n° 2, year LII, April–June 2006.
• I. Rizzini, Jean-François Nicéron's Thaumaturgus opticus:: notes on translation from Latin, in “Bollettino Ufficiale dell’Ordine dei Minimi”, n° 4, year LI, October–December 2004.
• A. De Rosa, G. D'Acunto, La vertigine dello sguardo. Saggi sulla rappresentazione anamorfica, Venezia Cafoscarina 2002.

Other sources

• the painting at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence [5]
• the Galileo project [6]
• Mersenne's ‘’catoptrique’’ contains Niceron’s plates