Early Telescopes and Ancient Scientific Instruments in the Paintings of Jan Brueghel the Elder

Pierluigi Selvelli, Paolo Molaro (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy)
(Submitted on 4 Dec 2015)

Ancient instruments of high interest for research on the origin and diffusion of early scientific devices in the late XVI – early XVII centuries are reproduced in three paintings by Jan Brueghel the Elder. We investigated the nature and the origin of these instruments, in particular the spyglass depicted in a painting dated 1609-1612 that represents the most ancient reproduction of an early spyglass, and the two sophisticated spyglasses with draw tubes that are reproduced in two paintings, dated 1617-1618. We suggest that these two instruments may represent early examples of keplerian telescopes. Concerning the other scientific instruments, namely an astrolabe, an armillary sphere, a nocturnal, a proportional compass, surveying instruments, a Mordente’s compass, a theodolite, etc., we point out that most of them may be associated with Michiel Coignet, cosmographer and instrument maker at the Court of the Archduke Albert VII of Hapsburg in Brussels.

Comments: Published in Astronomy and its instruments before and after Galileo, Edited by Luisa Pigatto and Valeria Zanini 2009, p193-208
Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)

Cite as: arXiv:1512.01347 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:1512.01347v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
Submission history
From: Molaro Paolo
[v1] Fri, 4 Dec 2015 09:24:54 GMT (2188kb)
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/1512.01347