Making Expert Knowledge through the Image

Connections between Antiquarian and Early Modern Scientific Illustration

Bibliographic Data

ID3404067
AuthorsStephanie Moser (0000-0002-1564-447X, University of Southampton, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume105
Issue1
Pages58-99
Publication date2014-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIsis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-1753 • E-ISSN: 1545-6994
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/675551
PMID24855872
OpenAlexW2040973252
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited23

This essay examines drawings of antiquities in the context of the history of early modern scientific illustration. The role of illustrations in the establishment of archaeology as a discipline is assessed, and the emergence of a graphic style for representing artifacts is shown to be closely connected to the development of scientific illustration in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The essay argues that the production of conventionalized drawings of antiquities during this period represents a fundamental shift in the approach to ancient material culture, signifying the recognition of objects as evidence. As has been demonstrated in other scientific fields, the creation of a visual system for recording objects was central to the acceptance of artifacts as "data" that could be organized into groups, classified as types, and analyzed to gain knowledge of the past

Archaeological Research and Protection · Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis · History of Science and Natural History

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access