From art to science
Subtitle: experiencing nature in the European garden : 1500-1700
By: edited by Juliette Ferdinand
Series: Festina lente. Miscellanea -- 4; Festina lente (Series) (Treviso, Italy) -- 4.
Publisher: ZeL edizioni
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Treviso
Language: eng; fre; ita
Number of pages: 127
ISBN-13: 9788896600924
Subjects: Gardens; History
Work titles: From art to science (Experiencing nature in the European garden)
Description: "Since ancient times, gardens have been a special place of inspiration for both artistic creativity and study of nature. In sixteenth-century Europe, the garden evolved into a playing field for direct experimentation. Nature was experienced as a source of delight but also viewed as an object of study by amateurs and natural philosophers. This ambivalence incited the development of new and original art forms, in which naturalistic representation acquired an epistemological function, and became as such an integral part of the scientific process. Thus, the distinction between art and science, subtle as it was in the Renaissance, tended to fade away completely in gardens. Artists used the emerging botanical or zoological gardens to the benefit of their own training, and the images of flora and fauna they created for educated collectors or botanical treatises were appreciated for their aesthetic qualities as well as for their naturalism. The fashion for rustic grottoes mirrored artistically the ongoing heated debate over the formation of matter; and fountains, displays and waterworks in their turn sparked the study of hydraulics. The essays collected in this volume show the state of the art in regards to this topic and explore the dialectic of the interrelationship between the study of nature and the design of gardens."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Texts  and summaries in English.