The eye of the Lynx : Galileo, his friends, and the beginnings of modern natural history

526 Pages·2002·253.557 MB·English

by  Freedberg, David

The Eye of the Lynx
DAVID
FREEDBERG
The Eye of the Lynx
G A L I L E O ,
H I S F R I E N D S ,
A N D T H E
B E G I N N I N G S
O F M O D E R N
N AT U R A L
H I S T O R Y
(cid:2)
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2002 by David Freedberg
All rights reserved. Published 2002
Printed in Italy
Published with the assistance of the Getty Grant Program.
All figures credited to the Royal Collection, Windsor, are ©2000, Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II.
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-26147-6 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-226-26148-4 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Freedberg, David.
The eye of the lynx: Galileo, his friends, and the beginnings of
modern natural history/ David Freedberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-226-26147-6 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Accademia dei Lincei—History.
2. Science—Italy—History. I. Title.
Q127.I8 F74 2002
509.45—dc21
2002000361
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
FOR HANNAH AND WILLIAM
Filiis Dilectis

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
A Note to Historians of Science xi
Introduction Saving the Appearances 1
PART I BACKGROUND
1 The Paper Museum 15
2 Lynxes 65
PART II ASTRONOMY
3 The New Star 81
4 The Telescope: Imperfection in the Heavens 101
5 The Conflict of Truths 117
PART III NATURAL HISTORY
6 The Chastity of Bees 151
7 The Microscope and the Vernacular 179
8 Plants and Reproduction 195
9 The Mexican Treasury: Taxonomy and Illustration 245
10 The Doctor’s Dilemmas: Description, Dissection,
and the Problem of Illustration 275
11 Fossils 305
PART IV PICTURES AND ORDER
12 The Failure of Pictures 349
13 The Order of Nature 367
14 The Fate of Pictures: Appearance, Truth, and Ambiguity 397
Notes 417
Abbreviations 479
Bibliography 481
Headings 501
Index 503
vii

Acknowledgments
The bulk of this book was written while I had the privilege of being An-
drew W. Mellon Professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual
Arts at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., in 1996–98. I am
grateful to all those at the Center and at the Gallery who patiently put up
with my endless requests for scholarly and administrative help. Above all
I must thank Henry Millon, then director of CASVA, for his support at
every stage. Of all those who helped with the research for this book, four
must be singled out here: Irina Oryshkevich, my research assistant of
many years standing, who could probably have written this book better
than I; Henrietta Ryan, who worked with me from the very beginning on
the drawings at Windsor Castle, and who willingly supplied me with
every new form of information that emerged about them; Alberta
Campitelli, who assisted me with a thousand requests on the Roman
front; and Francesco Solinas, with whom I embarked on this extraordi-
nary journey through the histories of science and art.
But very many other colleagues and friends helped me over the fifteen-
year period in which this book was being prepared and written. In addi-
tion to Simon Varey, who generously allowed me to read a copy of the
two-volume collection of essays on Francisco Hernández he has been ed-
iting with Rafael Chabrán and others, I would especially like to record my
gratitude to Enrico Baldini, Ugo Baldini, Noit Banai, Cecilia Bartoli,
Gabriella Becchina, Mario Biagioli, Akeel Bilgrami, Howard Bloch, Horst
Bredekamp, Jamie Brindley, Eric Brothers, Anna Maria Capecchi, Patrizia
Cavazzini, Joseph Connors, Hubert Damisch, Charles Dempsey, Silvia De
Renzi, Oliver Everett, Seth Fagen, Claire Flemming, Marc Fumaroli, Sven
Gahlin, Bella Galil, Fabio Garbari, Robert and Pippa Gerard, Carlo
Ginzburg, Anthony Grafton, David Helfand, Ingo Herklotz, David Jaffé,
Deborah Kahn, Eileen Kinghan, Rosalind Krauss, Claudia Kryza-Gersch,
Paola Lanzara, Evonne Levy, Ross MacPhee, Sarah McPhee, Polly
Maguire, Paula Mikkelsen, Sara Morasch, Caterina Napoleone, Anna
Nicolò, Therese O’Malley, Mireille Pastoureau, David Pegler, Eileen
ix