Art, Science and Wonder in the Early Modern World

Flashcards covering the intersection of art, science, and nature in the early modern world (1450–1800), including key artists, scientific theories, and artistic techniques.

Polymaths

Artists and scientists in the early modern world who relied on observation, experimentation, and visual representation to map the human body and the natural world.

Artisanal Knowledge

A concept proposed by Pamela Smith suggesting that creating works of art and studying nature were considered the same set of cultural practices.

Het Schilder Boeck

A 1604 book written by Karel van Mander, also known as 'The Book of Painting'.

The Albertian Window

A concept from Leon Battista Alberti where a picture is viewed as a visual pyramid or an open window through which the subject is painted.

Universal Mechanism

René Descartes' concept of the universe as a vast mechanism, where humans are machines with a soul located in the pineal gland.

Woodcut

A printmaking technique where parts of a woodblock are carved away; it was particularly suited for early books and used for works like Durer's 'The Rhinoceros'.

Engraving

A printmaking technique using a copperplate that allows for a much greater degree of accuracy than woodcut.

Etching

A technique where a copperplate is coated in varnish and a needle is used to draw, followed by an acid bath that eats the exposed copper.

Cabinets of Curiosity

Collections of diverse objects known as 'Nature’s wonders' that served as interactive spaces for knowledge acquisition and are considered the birth of museums.

Artificialia

A category of material in curiosity cabinets consisting of man-made objects, including mechanical devices, coins, paintings, and artifacts from exotic places.

Naturalia

A category of material in curiosity cabinets consisting of specimens from nature, such as sharks' teeth, armadillos, fossils, and botanical objects.

Automaton

A mechanical object art piece capable of movement, often involving secret clockwork knowledge found in collections like that of Rudolf II.

Échorché

An artistic practice depicting a figure without skin to study the muscles and anatomy, notably used by Jan Muller.

De humani corporis fabrica

A landmark anatomical work by Andreas Vesalius that challenged the ancient authority of Galen by using human dissection.

Vitruvian Man

A drawing by Leonardo da Vinci exploring human proportions and nature's design through geometry and architecture.

Verism

A sense of the truth or realism in art, as demonstrated by Jan van Eyck’s high level of precision in oil painting.

Linear Perspective

The representation of objects on a two-dimensional surface using one or more vanishing points to create an illusion of space.

Orthogonals

Vertical or receding lines in perspective construction that lead to the vanishing point.

Transversals

Horizontal lines in perspective drawing that appear closer together as they recede to show distance.

Intramission

The theory proposed by Alhazen that vision occurs because light rays enter our eyes.

Extramission

The ancient, incorrect theory that vision occurs because rays exist our eyes to perceive objects.

Catoptrics

The study of the reflection of light using mirrors or reflective surfaces.

Dioptrics

The study of the refraction of light through lenses and convex or concave surfaces.

The Keplerian Eye

The understanding of the eye as an optical instrument where images come through the eye and are projected onto the retina.

Trompe l’oeil

A form of illusionistic painting designed to trick the viewer into thinking the depicted space or object is real.

Anamorphosis

An optical illusion where an image is distorted and requires a specific vantage point to be seen correctly, such as the skull in Holbein's 'Ambassadors'.

Chantourné

A 'cut-out' artwork that adds a three-dimensional form and living presence to play on optical illusion.

Camera Obscura

An optical device that projects an upside-down image of a three-dimensional object onto a two-dimensional surface.

Historiae animalium

A work by Conrad Gessner that sought to document all animals of creation to find moral lessons in God’s creatures.

Spontaneous Generation

An early theory that insects were born from non-living matter, later disproven by Jan Swammerdam through the dissection of reproductive organs.

Tulipmania

The first speculation bubble in history (ending in 1637) where tulip bulbs were traded as symbols of extravagance via paper promises.