Work

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, His Images and Draughtsmen

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: This article provides, for the first time, an overview of all images (drawings and prints) sent by the Dutch microscopist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) to the Royal Society during their fifty-year long correspondence. Analyses of the images and close reading of the letters have led to an identification of three periods in which Leeuwenhoek worked together with artists. The first period (1673–1689) is characterized by the work of several draughtsmen as well as Leeuwenhoek’s own improving attempts to depict his observations. In the second period (1692–1712) Leeuwenhoek worked together with one unknown draughtsman, while the work in the third period (1713–1723) can now be attributed to the young draughtsman Willem vander Wilt. This article also shows how Leeuwenhoek did not only rely on draughtsmen for the depiction of his own observations, but rather, how he worked together with them in his workshop to observe, confirm, and witness microscopic experiments, replicating the collaborative working methods of the Royal Society in Delft.

Source: Perspectives on Science

DOI: 10.1162/posc_a_00314

Author: Sietske Fransen

Institutions: Max Planck Society, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History

Language: English

Topic: History of Science and Medicine

Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: Arts and Humanities Research Council

Awards: Making Visible: The visual and graphic practices of the early Royal Society, G7625625422