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# The convex mirror as a picture within a picture, one of its earliest depictions in painting
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/na-sekundu-podumalos-chto-sviatoi-ioann-krestitel-1438-goda-flamandskogo-khudozhnika-robera-kampena-stoit-vozle-stiralnoi-mashinki/
- Published: 2023-11-02T11:02:04.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:48:50.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Observations, Humour

For a second I thought Robert Campin's "Saint John the Baptist" of 1438 was standing next to a washing machine.

If you look closely, the convex mirror on the wall is, as it were, a picture within the picture, offering a glimpse of the interior and of the artist himself.

It is one of the earliest depictions of mirrors of this kind

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_10227@02-11-2023_14-02-04.jpg)