Painting the Heavens: Art and Science in the Age of GalileoThe remarkable astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with the new telescope in 1609-10 led to his famous disputes with philosophers and religious authorities, most of whom found their doctrines threatened by his evidence for Copernicus's heliocentric universe. In this book, Eileen Reeves brings an art historical perspective to this story as she explores the impact of Galileo's heavenly observations on painters of the early seventeenth century. Many seventeenth-century painters turned to astronomical pastimes and to the depiction of new discoveries in their work, yet some of these findings imposed controversial changes in their use of religious iconography. For example, Galileo's discovery of the moon's rough topography and the reasons behind its "secondary light" meant rethinking the imagery surrounding the Virgin Mary's Immaculate Conception, which had long been represented in paintings by the appearance of a smooth, incandescent moon. By examining a group of paintings by early modern artists all interested in Galileo's evidence for a Copernican system, Reeves not only traces the influence of science on painting in terms of optics and content, but also reveals the painters in a conflict between artistic depiction and dogmatic representation. Reeves offers a close analysis of seven works by Lodovico Cigoli, Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Pacheco, and Diego Velázquez. She places these artists at the center of the astronomical debate, showing that both before and after the invention of the telescope, the proper evaluation of phenomena such as moon spots and the aurora borealis was commonly considered the province of the painter. Because these scientific hypotheses were complicated by their connection to Catholic doctrine, Reeves examines how the relationship between science and art, and their mutual production of knowledge and authority, must themselves be seen in a broader context of theological and political struggle. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 26
... Pacheco , Immaculada con Miguel Cid , ca. 1619 PLATE 8 Diego Velázquez , Immaculate Conception , ca. 1619 FIGURE 1 Map of Mantua 71 FIGURE 2 Lodovico Cigoli , Allegory of Virtue and Envy , ca. 1611 173 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS WHILE writing this ...
... Pacheco , and Diego Velazquez , showing not only the surprising record they have left of these two dis- putes , but also what place Galileo's own theories about the supernova and the moon have in an artistic context . Though the most ...
... 1602 , his Deposition of 1607 and Immacolata of 1612 , Peter Paul Rubens's Self - Portrait in a Circle of Friends of 160S , and the Inma- culadas of 1618 of Francisco Pacheco and Diego Velazquez — THE ARTIST AND THE ASTRONOMER 7.
... Pacheco and Diego Velazquez — and a rather limited aspect of Galileo's celestial observations , his conjectures concerning the new star of 1604 , and above all , his discussion of the na- ture and substance of the lunar globe . What is ...
... Pacheco , or to the unorthodox , even heterodox , brilliance of the young Velazquez . The fact that the semidi- aphanous moon was commonly compared to sunlit clouds , and that these had long been compared to the illusionistic effects of ...
Other editions - View all
Painting the Heavens: Art and Science in the Age of Galileo Eileen Adair Reeves No preview available - 1997 |