Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl in the Underworld, Flemish School, dated 1605.
Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl in the Underworld, Flemish School,…
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Tag Archives: 17th century
The virtues of coffee, chocolette, and thee or tea,…
The virtues of coffee, chocolette, and thee or tea, experimentally known in this our climate. 1690.
No more worrying about scurvy, dropsy, gout, or distemper.
The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink Handbill advertisement, ca….
The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink
Handbill advertisement, ca. 1652, possibly the first advertisement for coffee in England, now in the British Museum. Very good to help digestion, and a most excellent remedy against the Spleen…
Marble bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, by Bernini,…
Marble bust of Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena, by Bernini, 1652.
The bust is the beneficiary of a crowdfunding campaign which is raising funds to build a “bespoke seismic pedestal” which will allow the sculpture to be once again put on public display.
Some engravings from Labyrinte de Versailles, 1677, by Sébastian…
Some engravings from Labyrinte de Versailles, 1677, by Sébastian Le Clerc.
The “lost labyrinth of Versailles” was completed in 1677 for Louis XIV. It contained thirty-nine fountains, each of which depicted a scene from Aesop’s Fables. The Dauphin, Louis’ son, learned to read from the fables printed on the plaques affixed to each fountain.
The labyrinth was torn down by Louis XVI in 1778, and replaced by the Bosquet de la Reine, an English-style garden in which events involving Marie Antoinette and the infamous “Affair of the Diamond Necklace” took place.
The title page of the Poly-Olbion, an epic topographical poem…
The title page of the Poly-Olbion, an epic topographical poem written by Michael Drayton and published in 1612.
Written in iambic hexameter, the thirty songs in Drayton’s book describe all of the counties of 17th Century England and Wales. Although he intended to add a third volume to the work, Drayton never did get around to covering Scotland.
Christinae Suecorum Gothorum Vandalorumque…
Christinae Suecorum Gothorum Vandalorumque Reginae…
Published by the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1656, this collection of verse was printed to welcome Christina Alexandra to Rome. It is printed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic.
It is in the collection of the Newberry Library.
Isaac Newton: On Drawing
Notes on drawing, written in 1659 by a 17-year-old Isaac Newton in one of his notebooks, digitized via The Newton Project. Also included in the source transcript are some interesting early notes on the preparation of various coloured pigments. Via Ptak.
Instruments of drawing.
Pens made of Raven quils. thick & smooth paper. & light coulored blew paper. fine parchment. a flat thin bras ruler. a paire of compasses. a wing. & sundry plummetts. & pestells to draw with=all.
Of Drawing with the pen
Let the thing which you intend to draw stand before you, so that the light be not hindred from falling upon it. & with a pointed peice of charecole draw it rudely & lightly when you have don see if it be well don; if not wipe out with your wing & begin agine, & so draw it till it bee well. then wipe it over gently with your wing, so that you may perceive your former strokes; then with your black chalk or pensill draw it perfectly & curiously as you can, & shaddow it as the light falleth upon it. If you draw on blew paper when you have finished your draught wet your paper in fair wait & let it dry of it self. & so the drawing will hold fast on.
Sculpture of a child being stung by a bee, by Hendrick de Keyser…
Sculpture of a child being stung by a bee, by Hendrick de Keyser ca. 1615, recently acquired by the Rijksmuseum.
The Anatomy of a 17th Century King James Bible title page, from…
The Anatomy of a 17th Century King James Bible title page, from the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.