Just watched this on ABC TV.

"Tim Jenison attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all of art: how did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography?:

Jenison had this theory that Vermeer's paintings were too 'correct' to have been done without some sort of technical assistance and set out to find a way to replicate his work.

His method involved using a couple of lens and a mirror to project the scene onto a canvas, just like a camera does onto film or a sensor.

If you're into this sort of stuff you can watch it on the ABC iview app.