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I think that if any painters of the past did use optics, they did so in a concession to speed, not because of a lack of skill.
There are plenty of evidence from painters today that artists can draw and paint from a live model very accurately without the aid of any optics. It is my opinion that most if not all the master painters of old could draw and paint from life and could do so quite skillfully. If they chose to use such devices, it would have been because they were a novelty and possibly because they saved them some time.
The mistake many painters have made since the second generation of impressionists is that they don't ever learn the skill and go right to saving time and it shows in the work - I did this too and am now having to make up for it.
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