Course information

This module studies the relationships between science and the visual arts in Europe from the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century. It explores how visual representations interact with, and at times reject, contemporary ‘philosophical’ debates; the reliability and instrumentalisation of visual traces; innovative techniques of visualising and recording natural and supernatural phenomena; collecting and display as discursive forms. Drawing on a wide range of materials – from interactive paper plates and miraculous imprints to books of secrets and lunar topographies – we will examine how artists and artworks informed – and were informed by – knowledge-making practices in fields like natural history, medicine, intelligence, theology, and astronomy. The module will consider specific but interconnected themes, including dissection, sign language, cryptography, early science fiction and museums.