An unblinking eye surrounded by rays of light radiating out from it, sometimes pictured within a triangle, sometimes on top of a pyramid. A familiar, if mysterious, symbol. An example of which is seen and handled every day by millions of people in the form depicted on the reverse of the US one-dollar bill. Such is the ‘All-seeing Eye’, or ‘Eye of Providence’ as it is sometimes known. But what exactly does it symbolise? From where does it originate? And is there any optical significance relating to it?
The idea of the all-seeing eye is quite ancient. Some connect it with the Egyptian symbol of the Eye of Horus, but the more likely origin is descriptions of the Divine gaze watching over all humanity’s deeds that are to be found in Old Testament biblical texts such as the Book of Psalms and Ecclesiastes. ‘Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy’, (Psalms) and ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good’, (Ecclesiastes) are just two of many quotations that illustrate the point.
By the late Renaissance the all-seeing eye had become a popular theme in European art, with the eye often enclosed within a triangle that could represent the Christian Trinity. The earliest known example in Renaissance art is in Jacopo Pontormo’s Supper at Emmaus (1525), although the eye itself may be a later addition. Church architecture often featured the all-seeing eye as did the ‘emblem books’ that became popular in the 16th and 17th centuries; small volumes containing short poems and allegorical pictures and symbols.
Supper at Emmaus by Jacopo Pontormo
Conspiracy theory
One of the most common associations of the all-seeing eye is with Freemasonry, and its presence on the Great Seal of the United States as illustrated on the dollar bill has often been cited as evidence of some great masonic conspiracy at the heart of the American government. In fact its use was suggested to one of the original design committees as symbolising the intervention of providence to the American cause, and was placed over an unfinished pyramid of thirteen steps to represent the original thirteen colonies, the incompleteness of the pyramid illustrating the growth of the country yet to be achieved. The only known freemason on any of the committees was that populariser of bifocals, Benjamin Franklin, and the records show that none of his suggestions were adopted.
There are some interesting optical connections with Freemasonry in which the all-seeing eye features, although it is important to point out what the connection is not. Mention of the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (WCSM) to those who have little or no experience of its events or activities sometimes elicits a response along the lines of, ‘Isn’t that some kind of masonic thing?’ In fact it has nothing to do with Freemasonry whatsoever but the Livery companies generally, with their ‘worshipful’ title, governance structure of Master and Wardens which echoes the Worshipful Master and Wardens of a masonic lodge (although Livery companies in many cases are much older than Freemasonry), and some arcane traditions, can lead the unenlightened to a perhaps understandable confusion about the two organisations. Indeed the Worshipful Company of Masons takes pains to point out its separateness from Freemasonry in a ‘Who we are not’ section on their website, in which is explained that old references to a ‘free mason’ referred to a skilled stonemason who was ‘free’ of his master and a journeyman or master mason in his own right.
Founder's Jewel of Ophthalmos masonic lodge
Nevertheless it is almost inevitable that there would be freemasons who are also members of Livery companies, just as those companies encompass members of all kinds of other organisations. Freemasons are these days encouraged to be open about their membership (the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) celebrated its tercentenary in 2017 by commissioning a Sky TV documentary series about modern Freemasonry), but it was not always something that would be mentioned or especially noted. However, a biography of Sir Robert Fowler, WCSM Master in 1871-2, and Lord Mayor of London in 1883 and 1885, states: ‘He was also Past Grand Warden and Past Master of the No 1 lodge of the Freemasons.’
It is common in Freemasonry for members who have a shared interest, be it profession or trade, pastime, organisation or location to form a lodge for such likeminded people. Some of the Livery companies do have ‘sister’ masonic lodges, which are connected by their common membership (but, as stated above, they are quite separate organisations). The WCSM is not one of those with a sister lodge, but there has been an optical lodge. In early 1924, 18 masons with an optical interest petitioned UGLE to form a lodge in London. Most were optometrists but there were also optical manufacturers and wholesalers and at least one ophthalmic surgeon. Some of the names played a pivotal role in the development of the nascent profession of ophthalmic optics. The years following both world wars saw a boom in masonic membership as returning ex-servicemen looked for a way to maintain the camaraderie forged on active service. The establishment of new lodges helped to cater for this demand. In April 1924, UGLE accepted the petition (which is held in the archive of the Museum of Freemasonry, Freemasons’ Hall, Covent Garden), stating the new lodge’s purpose as being for men ‘interested in optics and to relieve the general congestion’. An article on the BOA/College of Optometrists Museum website on this subject points out that the lodge would have met a demand for a London-based meeting place ‘where provincial masons with interests in optics, refraction, ophthalmic surgery and physics could gather, for example whilst visiting the capital to attend academic conferences.’
Founding fathers
The founders of the new lodge would have wanted to choose a name for it that reflected these interests. The initial idea was to honour the physicist and polymath, Thomas Young. His optical experiments were and are famous; and a prestigious lecture held under the auspices of the Optical Society was named after him. But the suggestion was refused so an alternative list including ‘Lumen’, ‘Light in Darkness’, ‘Gallilean’, ‘Spectrum’ and ‘Roger Bacon’ was submitted to the officials at UGLE, who settled on ‘Ophthalmos’. Ophthalmos Lodge (No 4,633) was duly consecrated July 3, 1924. The first Worshipful Master of the lodge was a manufacturing optician by the name of Bulford Henry James; his Wardens were Joseph Leopold Meynell, an ophthalmic surgeon, and optometrist, William Henry Nicholls. Optometrists at that time were, of course, called ophthalmic opticians but two of Ophthalmos’ initial subscribing members, Samuel and David Cowan, described themselves as ‘optologists’. During the first quarter of the 20th century there was much debate about optical titles; indeed, the British Optical Association’s Nomenclature Committee of 1903 received 50 submissions, including ophthalmic optician and optometrist. ‘Optologist’ was their preference (see College of Opsiologists? Optician, 11.01.13, pp32-3), but it never took root.
John H Sutcliffe and William Barker, seminal figures in the development of the optometric profession, were two more founder-members of Ophthalmos. Sutcliffe, who was initiated into Freemasonry in 1901, had an optical practice in Blackpool and, with his father, Robert, co-founded the British Optical Association and later founded the BOA Museum. His friend, Barker, who was initiated in 1910, was the driving force behind the establishment of an optometry training course in Manchester (previously all optical students had to travel to London). Also worthy of mention among Ophthalmos’ first members is Owen Aves, a Yorkshire optometrist who filed the first patent for a varifocal lens, in 1907 (UK patent no 15735). The design was beyond the technological capabilities of the day (at least it is unknown whether any prototypes were ever manufactured) but it has been lately resurrected by Norville Optical Group as their highly effective ‘Digitor’ lens. Those 18 initial lodge members included seven past and future presidents of the BOA.
In recent years it became unviable for Ophthalmos Lodge to continue due to dwindling membership and it was erased from the UGLE register in 2016. Some of the lodge’s accoutrements and regalia were donated to the BOA Museum, most interesting of which is a Founder’s Jewel. The shield features the quotation from Genesis 1:3, ‘Let there be light’, and various masonic symbols such as the square and compasses. But overlooking all is the doubly significant all-seeing eye.
• With acknowledgement of material sourced from BOA/College of Optometrists Museum website; and image of masonic jewel courtesy of same.
