AN OXFORD-based artist thinks he's cracked the method Rembrandt van Rijn used to help getting his stunning self-portraits just right.

Francis O'Neill found the Dutch Master, famed for his detailed portraits, could have used mirrors to reflect himself onto a canvas for him to trace for a self-portrait.

The 37-year-old used his own Jericho flat to experiment with a series of mirrors and lenses before he came across the method he thought the 17th century artist would have used.

It was from there he teamed up with London-based physics graduate Sofia Palazzo to published his findings, which were published by the Journal of Optics last week.

Since then Mr O'Neill, who works and teaches from his studio in Magdalen Road Studios, has seen his findings be talked about across the world.

He said his interest in Rembrandt stemmed from an inter-rail trip around Europe in 1997, which "blew him away".

He added: "I’ve always been interested in drawing and painting.

"It might also have been a good way to keep me quiet when I was a kid. I can remember my Dad telling me about the magical achievements of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, as well as the scientist Galileo.

"It's been nice that it's been reported as big news and a lot of people are talking about it and we have been having a lot of fun with it.

"Our research has gone around the world but it has also come in for some criticism, although I do not think the critics have read or understood the paper."

Mr O'Neil said he "looked for clues" in previous research by artist David Hockney and physicist Charles Falco – who had said in a BBC programme that the Old Masters used optics.

He added: "Their theory involved the artist recording the projection in a darkened room while the subject was in an adjoining well lit space.

"The difficulty for a self-portrait is that the artist is also the subject but he or she cannot be in the dark and the light at the same time.

"When I learned that it was possible to see a projection on metal in a room that was not completely dark, I guessed that Rembrandt had used projections to make his etched self-portraits on copper plates, and I started buying mirrors to figure out how that could be done."

The artist said Rembrandt would have had to put in a "great deal of the hard work and concentration" to paint "realistic" images.

Mr O’Neil said he has written a 60-page document on his findings over the past decade and added he may turn it into a book.

He added he was hoping for bigger art insitututes to recognise his work in the coming months.