their independence.
Pythagoras, Chartres Cathedral, late twelfth century
During the Middle Ages an important school of philosophy was established at Chartres where subjects such as optics were studied. The ancient thinker Pythagoras is shown here. Others found in the sculptures there include Aristotle (not visible on this image), represented with the symbols of dialectics; Euclid, accompanied by the geometer’s tools; and Ptolemy, by the astronomer’s.
In the fifteenth century, Lorenzo de Medici (1449–1492) founded a school for the most gifted in order to provide them with basic training in geometry, grammar, philosophy and history. The success of this organization was such that, within a few decades, more than 1,000 academies sprang up in Italy alone. Within these institutions, a grounding in art meant learning the rules of perspective and studying anatomy, just as it does in many art schools today.
Renaissance artisans gradually gained respect and repute. As interest in their work increased, so did the attention paid to the individual artist. Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446), the developer of one-point perspective and designer of the famous Florence Cathedral dome, was the first to bear the title of architect. Just one century later, Michelangelo (1475–1564) would be described as a “genius” by the public.
Painting Academy in Rome, Pierfrancesco Alberti, sixteenth century
Brunelleschi and Botticelli made decorative as well as functional objects. The academies functioned like modern research laboratories, with specialists working under the supervision of a coordinating director. Right, a human corpse is dissected.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Elisha Whittelsley Collection/Elisha Whittelsley Fund, 1949 (49.95.12)
While Renaissance artists dared to challenge popes, most of their scientific contemporaries had to pursue research secretly, and were viewed as enlightened amateurs. Yet they used measuring instruments similar to those used by artists, and they investigated analogous concerns. In fact, artists and scientists functioned in parallel.
By advancing a logical explanation of the world rather than a spiritual one, science would slowly erode religious dogma. Newton, the author of the theory of universal gravitation, became immensely famous while still alive; but most scientists would not benefit from any official status until the nineteenth century.
Isaac Newton, William Blake, 1795–1805
William Blake, the painter, engraver and visionary poet who made this ironic portrait, was a precursor of the Romantic artists.
Color print with ink and watercolor on paper, 181⁄8 × 235⁄8 in. (46 × 60 cm)
Tate Britain, London
The rupture in modern times
To explain the workings of the universe, scientists increasingly favored mechanical concepts, leaving emotional concerns to the purview of art. The more science progressed, the more artists rebelled against it. While the French Revolution destroyed artistic patronage, it spurred technical inventions such as printing and photography. The illustrator, until then an essential recorder of historic moments, suddenly felt threatened. His task could seemingly be carried out just as well, if not better, by machines!
The profusion of scientific inventions in the early nineteenth century gave rise to new terminology. The word “scientist,” coined by the British in 1863, and constructed according to the same logic as the word “artist,” slowly replaced the traditional designation “natural philosopher,” which was still in use.
Scientific developments were heavily dependent on industry and economics, and thus inextricably linked to power. In response to the public’s craving for knowledge, popularizing magazines such as Scientific American began appearing in the middle of the nineteenth century. From then on, science would play a central role in society and researchers would finally become paid professionals.
In the meantime, since artists were no longer needed to represent reality, many took upon themselves the challenge of interpreting that reality. In so doing, they unwittingly re-established conceptual links with science. Despite their role as “society’s conscience,” few artists today have attained the social status of scientists. For example, there is no Nobel prize in the visual arts.
Artists’ rewards are often unpredictable, whereas scientists generally receive salaries. Of course, although the market occasionally propels an artist to unimaginable heights of fame and fortune his earnings are generally meager. Yet he does enjoy a precious privilege: relative freedom in creation.
The role of museums
Throughout history, works of art have been made that resemble true marvels of science and technology. Sometimes, it is impossible to determine whether a creation is of the artistic or scientific order. Understanding an object’s significance contributes to the emotion it produces.
Art can be enjoyed at various levels; aesthetic landmarks exist in science as well, but their appreciation is generally left to specialists. The teaching of science is not expected to emphasize aesthetic aspects and tends to concentrate on theories that “work.”
Traditionally, art’s end point was “to produce beauty,” not to provide information. However, art is a testimony and, as such, generates knowledge. The “research” of contemporary artists often resembles a mental construction, transmitted in a visual form, appealing more to the intellect than to the senses. Artists originate ideas which, when sufficiently innovative, become a form of information.
Gallery of the Louvre, Samuel F. B. Morse, 1831–33
As of 1737, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture started to organize regular exhibitions at the Louvre. Artists could hone their skills by copying the masters, but the general public was rarely admitted. Samuel Morse (1791–1872), who developed the electrical telegraph and its code, also painted at the Louvre. He was president of the New York Academy of Design.
Oil on canvas, 733⁄4 × 108 in. (187.3 × 274.3 cm)
Terra Foundation for American Art; Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1922.51
Museums are reliable indicators of the value that a society places on culture. Created in Ancient Greece around 300 B.C., the Museion was a sanctuary for the muses, a study center principally for mathematics—although specimens of plants and animals were assembled there. During the Renaissance, “antiquarians” started once again to collect objects which were displayed in their “curiosity cabinets.”
In the eighteenth century, the age of the great explorers, the idea of a national museum took root in various countries, as it became increasingly necessary to house nature’s marvels as well as multiple treasures of the wealthy. The next step might possibly have been the creation of a vast “encyclopedic space,” but for practical reasons, specialized museums were favored instead. Science and art had taken divergent routes.
Regardless of the nature of their collections, museums today give priority to activities such as conservation, research and teaching. In some art museums, vast spaces lavishly deploy technology to enhance the presentation of paintings and sculpture. Science museums exhibit their collections from an aesthetic vantage point. In this way, museums, ancient or modern, remind us that art, science and spirituality are intrinsically linked. As repositories of knowledge, they are real teaching laboratories: “Museums are houses which only host thoughts,” said Marcel Proust.
Restoration of the Sistine Chapel
This computerized map illustrates the restoration process.