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Historians in the Laboratory: Reconstruction of Renaissance Art and Technology in the Making and Knowing Project
Author(s) -
Smith Pamela H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
art history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8365
pISSN - 0141-6790
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8365.12235
Subject(s) - making of , the renaissance , citation , art history , art , visual arts , library science , computer science , management , economics
European artist-artisans increasingly began to write down their working procedures after 1400, which helped bring into being new modes of gaining knowledge, especially about nature and natural materials. Such technical writings are a valuable source for historians and conservators, although the genre is often regarded as nothing more than straightforward technical recipes. This essay introduces a collaborative teaching and research project, based at Columbia University, which aims to set out a method of reconstruction by which historical evidence can be extracted from these writings, not just about materials and practices, but also about the intellectual world and daily life of the early modern workshop. The goal is a critical edition and English translation of an unusual sixteenth-century technical manuscript, BnF Ms. Fr. 640. In addition, the project strives to reflect on the nature and status of evidence obtained through the method of reconstruction. This essay argues that close study and rigorous reconstruction of this technical recipe collection allows novel insights into the material and mental world of its anonymous author-practitioner.