What is it about?
The article explores the optical 'hinterland' surrounding the early modern development of the telescope and the microscope. Looking at a broad range of early modern instruments of optically-assisted vision and the lexicons of their earliest development, it contextualises the 'invention' of the telescope within its larger historical field of optical experimentation and instrumentation.
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Why is it important?
The article situates the Galilean 'invention' of the telescope within its broader historical parameters, both within and beyond the history of science. It juxtaposes the ongoing experimentation with optical instruments with their cultural regard across the arts and letters. This extends across the visual arts of drawing, painting, and architecture, as well as a broader cultural engagement with 'summoning the stars' in literature and poetry.
Perspectives
As an art historian, I was particularly interested in the cultural commonalities of early modern art and science in the far-reaching quest to visualise knowledge in a pre-photographic age. Draftsmanship was essential to all vision-based disciplines, from astronomy and anatomy to art and architecture. Photography is so thoroughly naturalised into our knowledge instruments today, hence the need to reconstruct early modern practices of all forms of knowledge documentation before the advent of photography.
Genevieve Warwick
University of Edinburgh
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This page is a summary of: The “Sky Optick”, Annali dell Istituto e Museo di storia della scienza di Firenze, January 2025, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/18253911-bja10140.
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