The Philosophical Transactions and Collections to the end of the Year 1700; Abridg’d, and Dispos’d under General Heads. In three Volumes. By John Lowthorp. The Fourth Edition (London: Knapton, 1731). RBC Q11 P45 1731
Although often considered the first scientific periodical, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society also illustrated many secrets and discoveries within the arts, such as drawing frames, perspective machines and methods for casting statues, as seen here in this tipped-in engraving. The study of artistic techniques was one of the many interests of the early Royal Society. The exhibition already shows another perspectival machine from the Renaissance artist Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola’s work on perspective, edited by the mathematician Egnazio Danti (below). Gentleman natural philosophers such as the fellows of the Royal Society drew upon many previous practices testing the boundaries of art and nature. While interested in the exact description of nature aided by technology (as was Vignola), they also appreciated the playfulness of nature. Vignola’s work, for instance, also illustrated how one might make anamorphic images (carefully plotted scenes which reveal different images from different perspectives, below). These could be used in perspective boxes, small boxes with painted interiors and carefully plotted peepholes. Anamorphic images demonstrate the penchant of the period for “serious jokes,” that is, playful entertainment which ingeniously explores important subjects, such as geometry and optics.
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Le due regole della prospettiva pratica. 741.v686
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Le due regole della prospettiva pratica. 741.v686
To see how Vignola put perspective into practice, visit the Villa Farnese he built in Caprarola (in Italian, but the architecture speaks for itself):
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-24945cd3-a2fc-4292-8806-68ec7cad488b.html?p=0
For more perspective boxes, see:
http://www.dia.org/object-info/24ca1321-c63a-4ca3-b1b5-115b0f27e2d1.aspx
http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2009/05/02/anamorphic-skulls-and-songbird/
For the nineteenth-century anorthoscopic inventions of Joseph Plateau, see:
http://www.mhsgent.ugent.be/engl-plat4.html
Recommended further reading:
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-element in Culture. Boston: Beacon Press, 1955.
Baltrušaitis, Jurgis. Anamorphic art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1977.
Kaufmann, Thomas Da Costa. The Mastery of Nature: Aspects of Art, Science, and Humanism in the Renaissance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
Daston, Lorraine, and Katharine Park. Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750. New York: Zone Books, 1998.
Clark, Stuart. Vanities of the Eye: Vision in early modern European culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.