 Porta’s ideas on optics gradually developed over his long career. His approaches to the field were holistic and his characteristic perceptual understanding of images was not necessarily geared towards the development of a coherent optical theory. Motivated by an interest in the theatricality such devices could produce, Porta’s optical endeavors were geared towards controlling or manipulating visual perception (Dupré 2007). The texts on plane and curved mirrors, lenses, and glass orbs are closely tied to devices which had the capacity to generate marvelous optical illusions (such as cabinets of mirrors, images that appear to be suspended in the air, spy-glasses, or the camera obscura). The same is true of Porta’s optical analysis of the anatomy of the human eye.