Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom

In the late sixteenth century, the French provincial lawyer Jean I du Temps of Blois (fl. 1570s–1590s) devoted countless hours to difficult forms of scholarship that wove together the cultures of letters and mathematics. Perhaps the most astounding product of his labour is a manuscript set of instru...

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Main Authors: Alexander Marr, Richard Oosterhoff
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: arthistoricum.net 2020-10-01
Series:21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/xxi/article/view/76231
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author Alexander Marr
Richard Oosterhoff
author_facet Alexander Marr
Richard Oosterhoff
author_sort Alexander Marr
collection DOAJ
description In the late sixteenth century, the French provincial lawyer Jean I du Temps of Blois (fl. 1570s–1590s) devoted countless hours to difficult forms of scholarship that wove together the cultures of letters and mathematics. Perhaps the most astounding product of his labour is a manuscript set of instruments for calculating the locations of the heavenly bodies: Organon astronomicon ex hypothesibus Copernici extructum (Astronomical instrument constructed from the hypotheses of Copernicus). Unusually, and as its title indicates, the work is based on the calculations that underpin Nicolaus Copernicus’ proposition of a heliocentric world system, published in his De revolutionibus (1543). This, as we shall suggest, bears on the manuscript’s distinctive aesthetic, whereby the data on which Copernicus’ provocative hypotheses rest are rendered both delightful and useful. In making his Organon, du Temps deployed cunning visual tactics to engage the reader, guiding them towards an appreciation both of the heavens’ mathematically ordered beauty and of his own ingenium.
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spelling doaj.art-f872e735830b450db0b10ceffb2480942022-12-21T19:46:07Zdeuarthistoricum.net21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual2701-15692701-15502020-10-011210.11588/xxi.2020.2.76231Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic FreedomAlexander MarrRichard OosterhoffIn the late sixteenth century, the French provincial lawyer Jean I du Temps of Blois (fl. 1570s–1590s) devoted countless hours to difficult forms of scholarship that wove together the cultures of letters and mathematics. Perhaps the most astounding product of his labour is a manuscript set of instruments for calculating the locations of the heavenly bodies: Organon astronomicon ex hypothesibus Copernici extructum (Astronomical instrument constructed from the hypotheses of Copernicus). Unusually, and as its title indicates, the work is based on the calculations that underpin Nicolaus Copernicus’ proposition of a heliocentric world system, published in his De revolutionibus (1543). This, as we shall suggest, bears on the manuscript’s distinctive aesthetic, whereby the data on which Copernicus’ provocative hypotheses rest are rendered both delightful and useful. In making his Organon, du Temps deployed cunning visual tactics to engage the reader, guiding them towards an appreciation both of the heavens’ mathematically ordered beauty and of his own ingenium.https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/xxi/article/view/76231ingenuitydiagramstablesvisual cultureastronomyDu Temps
spellingShingle Alexander Marr
Richard Oosterhoff
Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual
ingenuity
diagrams
tables
visual culture
astronomy
Du Temps
title Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
title_full Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
title_fullStr Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
title_full_unstemmed Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
title_short Outstanding Ingenuity and Graphic Freedom
title_sort outstanding ingenuity and graphic freedom
topic ingenuity
diagrams
tables
visual culture
astronomy
Du Temps
url https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/xxi/article/view/76231
work_keys_str_mv AT alexandermarr outstandingingenuityandgraphicfreedom
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