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Where Art and Science Intersect

Where Art and Science Intersect. Kimberley Sorenson The Waterford School 1480 E. 9400 South Sandy, UT 84093. Technology, Dutch Art and the Commercial Revolution. Italian Renaissance. Raphael’s Madonna of the Meadow, 1509

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Where Art and Science Intersect

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  1. Where Art and Science Intersect Kimberley Sorenson The Waterford School 1480 E. 9400 South Sandy, UT 84093 Technology, Dutch Art and the Commercial Revolution

  2. Italian Renaissance • Raphael’s Madonna of the Meadow, 1509 • Platonic—believes that the ideal is more enduring and real than specific examples. Tableness, for example, lasts forever, though tables don’t. • Narrative—telling a story. • Perspective—seen from a unique vantage point. • Chiaroscuro—light and shadow model three dimensionality

  3. Many languages to describe the ideal • Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (c. 1480) and secular humanism

  4. The Cracking of the High Renaissance • Francis I of France invades at invitation of Milan, 1494 • Savonarola overthrows Medici; Machiavelli out of power • Habsburgs come to “help;” occupy and sack Rome 1527 • The Prince, 1532 • The “Machiavellian Moment”: a ruler should be effective, not idealistic • Last Judgment, 1535-1541, and Mannerism

  5. Christian Humanism • Northern Europe; next generation • Anxiety re: secular humanism • Humanism has the potential to deepen and purify man’s relationship with Christ • Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) • In Praise of Folly, Handbook of the Christian Knight; translation of New Testament • He was the Internet of his day; in personal communication with major thinkers all over Europe (Latin)

  6. Northern Renaissance Art • Jan Van Eyck begins as an illuminator—detail • Oil paint had been around; he is the first to discover linseed oil, a varnish that dries at a consistent rate • Oil holding pigment in suspension reflects light

  7. “Disguised symbolism” • Single candle and dog: fidelity in marriage • Green: fertility and hope • Shoes removed: standing in a holy places • Gendered space: man is wearing outside clothes and pattens; woman is inside, with slippers • Fascination with reflective surfaces: beads, chandelier, and mirror; perhaps camera obscura • “Jan Van Eyck was here.” Witness, not creator.

  8. Madonnas of Van Eyck (North) and Veneziano (Italy), c. 1450

  9. Attention to a few large things Objects modeled by light and shadow Legible situation in space more important than surface of objects Seen from single perspective Narrative/ideal Attention to many small things Light reflected off objects Surface of objects more important than situation in space No clearly situated viewer Objective record Italian vs. Northern

  10. 16th century historical context • Beeldenstorm, 1566 • Dutch Revolt and end of centralized authority • Anxiety re: social order and importance of family as social unit and restraint on “embarrassment of riches”

  11. Think Martha Stewart Living • “Just as American sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s offered a forum for new notions of home and family, Dutch paintings of the 1650s and 1660s worked out and reinforced ideals of proper domestic life.” • Dollhouses that allowed women to pore over details of refinement

  12. Family is source of learning (5 senses), including appropriate life roles

  13. Formation of Family • Catholic societies, best marriage is Christ with church (i.e. nuns, priests) • Protestant societies, marriage is companionate • He’s 35, she’s 30 • Thistle is “man’s faith” • Ivy is woman clinging to man • Wedding ring on forefinger and hand on heart • Garden of love in rear

  14. Children are children, with their own needs and personalities The Lacemaker The Sick Child

  15. Van Eyck, Vermeer and technological innovation • Both experimented with techniques to mimic light • Van Eyck: eventually found varnishes that made oil-base paint practical • Vermeer put sand in paint • Both used a camera obscura, which means they physically modeled their compositions • Vermeer and Leeuwenhoek were friends; better lenses

  16. Evidence • All paintings have highly specific vantage point • All are very specific • Sizes correspond to size of reflection • Vermeer’s secrecy and slowness • “camera” viewpoints • Lens-like highlights

  17. Commercialization of Dutch Art • 2 separate historical estimates: more than 5 million paintings during Golden Age • 20% landscapes; perhaps nostalgia • Small enough to hang and be affordable in homes • Workshops, with masters doing faces and hands • Specialization

  18. Seeing as a way of knowing more completely; Willem Kalf’s lemons

  19. Rembrandt

  20. The Art of Describing • “Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp” (who changed his name because he loved tulips) • Hand demonstrating the actions of the flexors • Vesalius—first to deny Galen’s mistakes with empirical evidence • Describing rather than interpreting

  21. Francis Bacon and the Scientific Revolution • “But to resolve nature into abstractions is less to our purpose than to dissect her into parts.” Novum Organum, 1620. • Describing rather than characterising; empiricism

  22. Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, and the Royal Society • Christopher Wren is astronomer who uses new lenses. His study group becomes the Royal Society in 1661. • Robert Hooke named weekly “experimenter.” • Robert Hooke fiddles with lenses, adds stage and water bladder, publishes Micrographia, 1665

  23. “The eye, helped by the lens, was a means by which men were able to turn from the misleading world of Brain and Fancy to the concrete world of things…shewing, that there is not so much requir’d towards it, any strength of Imagination, or exactness of Method, or depth of Contemplation (though the addition of these, where they can be had, must needs produce a much more perfect composure), as a sincere Hand, and a faithful Eye, to examine, and to record, the things themselves as they appear.” --Sir Francis Bacon, Novum Organum

  24. Hooke and Wren’s “sincere hands and faithful eyes” • 52 churches after Great Fire of 1666. • Function: want everyone to hear and see sermon, so invent central plan churches • Little experience. Builds models. Experiments with materials for acoustics and light.

  25. Commercialization of architecture • Had to build them quickly • Had to build them cheaply: sacrificed exterior • But King wanted footprint in London: beautiful steeples

  26. Commercialization of Fashion • From 14th century, French send 300 pound “fashion doll” to English court once a year. Fashion cycle of c. 15 years • 1770—Ladies’ magazines. Fashion cycle of 1 year. • Painted fashion plates. Fashion cycle of 3 mos. • 1790—paper dolls

  27. Josiah Wedgwood and the commercialization of desire • Same pattern of style (Herculaneum); technical innovation (transfer; new glazes; new clays) and lower pricing (canals) • But he realizes that’s not sustainable • MARKETING: regional warehouses, showrooms, frog service for Catherine the Great, money back guarantee, free delivery to London, traveling salesmen, ads and puffs

  28. Commercialism of science itself • Begin with collections • Lectures sponsored by coffeehouses and local societies • Museums, panoramas, zoos, etc. • TOYS and BOOKS; Matthew Boulton and John Newbery

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