This SAHGB - IHR seminar will be a hybrid event, taking place online and in person at the Institute of Historical Research, Pollard N301 (3rd Floor, North Block of Senate House, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU).
Abstract:
Wendel Dietterlin, Allegory of the Architectural Image, etched illustration in Dietterlin's ARCHITECTVR von Portalen vnnd Thürgerichten mancherley arten. Das Annder Būch (Straßburg: Bernhard Jobin’s heirs, 1594), Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, R.10.002,2, pl. 14. Source: Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg
Between the eras of Dürer and Rubens, artists, architects, and scientists in northern Europe collaborated to revive the Vitruvian concept of architecture as both art and science. They did so by creating images of architecture in drawing, painting, print, and sculpture that brought techniques of visual research to architectural practice—a phenomenon epitomised in Wendel Dietterlin’s 1593- 1598 Architectura treatise. I establish that such architectural images made architecture a hotbed of empiricism, or the idea that knowledge derives from experience—rendering the medium indispensable to the advent of modern, empirical science. In so doing, I sketch a new method for investigating the roles of architectural images in the entwined histories of early modern art, architecture, and science. This talk arises from the book, The Architectural Image and Early Modern Science: Wendel Dietterlin and the Rise of Empirical Investigation (Cambridge, 2024), which has received support from the Graham Foundation.
Wendel Dietterlin, Allegory of Architectural Practice, etching with engraved letterpress in Dietterlin’s ARCHITECTVRA vnd Aūsstheilung der V. Seüln. Das Erst Būch. (Stuttgart: s.n. 1593), Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg, R.10.002,1, Title Page. Source: Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg
Speaker Bio:
Elizabeth J. Petcu is a Senior Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. Her research and teaching examine the intersections of visual and scientific inquiry in the art and architectural culture of the early modern world.
Registration:
Register using the form below. You will be emailed prior to the seminar with a reminder of the joining information shown on the following screen.
Wendel Dietterlin, Façade Design with King Saul, etched illustration in Dietterlin's ARCHITECTVRA von Außtheilung, Symmetria vnd Proportion der Fünff Seulen […] (Nuremberg: Hubrecht and Balthasar Caymox, 1598), Zurich, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Rx 12: c,2 | F, pl. 147. https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-8703 / Public Domain Mark
Wendel Dietterlin, Elephant Hearth, etched illustration in Dietterlin’s ARCHITECTVRA von Außtheilung, Symmetria vnd Proportion der Fünff Seulen […] (Nuremberg: Hubrecht and Balthasar Caymox, 1598), Zurich, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Rx 12: c,2 | F, pl. 13. https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-8703 / Public Domain Mark