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The Scientific Revolution in Art

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Abstract

In the continuing spirit of narrowing the gap between the “two cultures,” this essay illustrates, quite literally through representative works of Western art, the striking parallels between the visual arts and the discoveries made during the Scientific Revolution, the period between Copernicus’s 1543 De revolutionibus and Newton’s 1687 Principia when the foundations of modern science swept away the scientific heritage of the ancient and medieval worldviews, a period that, though underrepresented in art–science studies, marked the birth of the modern mind and, indeed, the modern world.

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  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, One Aerospace Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL, 32114, USA

    Robert Fleck

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Robert Fleck is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. His PhD in astronomy is from the University of Florida.

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Fleck, R. The Scientific Revolution in Art. Phys. Perspect. 23, 139–169 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-021-00274-4

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