This project investigates how the characteristic Northern fascination with splendor, created not only a fertile ground for crafts that in many ways afford luster and shine through polishing, faceting, forging and imitating refractive and reflective materials, but that the love for these materials also led to a better understanding of their optical properties and, by extension, stimulated optical theory. Using a combination of art technological sources, technical research, medieval lore and natural philosophical texts, the project examines how the deeply rooted exchange between natural philosophers and artisans such as goldsmiths, glassmakers, painters and ceramicists, resulted in theories about the behavior of light and ideas concerning the origin and characteristics of the material splendor made by nature itself.

MPIWG Colloquium - Marjolijn Bol

Monday 27 August 2012, 4-6 pm

Oiling Stones and Coloring Crystals: Practices of Faking the Precious in Art and Science, 1100-1500

Villa, Room V005, Harnackstraße 5 | Further information and the dates for other future events are available on the MPIWG website - Events and here.