At the front of the green octagonal table in the Linder Gallery, very prominently positioned in the painting, is a scrap of paper bearing three competing systems of the universe: the Ptolemaic earth-centred system at the top left, the sun-centred Copernican system (prohibited by the Inquisition since 1616) and the compromise system of the Danish astronomer, Kepler’s mentor Tycho Brahe, …
When art becomes art – Excerpt from A Mysterious Masterpiece
WESCHLER: Taking it one step further, I would also argue that this is the moment when art starts being art as opposed to being science. For all of your claims that the old man and the woman should be read principally iconographically — that they represent this or they represent that and so forth — there are times when a …
An alternative candidate for Disegno?
It is by no means clear whether the figure of Disegno in the Linder gallery is intended to be generic or a specific portrait. Michael John has suggested Kepler as a possible candidate – which is certainly plausible, although I have yet to be convinced of the similarity between known portraits of Kepler and the features of the Linder gallery figure, …
Iconoclasm in the Linder Gallery?
In the lunette above the window out over the garden in the Linder Gallery you can make out some people with donkeys’ heads engaged in wanton acts of destruction. They are smashing lutes and globes and removing paintings from the wall.
Drawing and Painting? Art and Science?
The foreground of the Linder Gallery is dominated by two figures, a bearded old man and a young woman in classical clothing reclining in his lap. Whereas the male figure appears to be a portrait, the female figure seems to be purely allegorical. The paintbrushes, maulstick and artist’s pallete would suggest that she can be identified as Painting, or perhaps …
Kepler in the Linder Gallery?
Three books can be seen to the right of the celestial globe in the Linder Gallery. From the bottom they are the HARMONICES MUNDI or Harmonies of the World (1619) and the TABULAE RUDOLPHINAE or Rudolphine Tables (1627) by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
A possible self-portrait?
There is no signature on the Linder Gallery, but on the red table on the right hand side of the painting is a small double-portrait. The portrait shows two men, a bearded man pointing at a drawing and the other, younger man looking at the drawing and painting. On close inspection of the drawing it can be seen that it …
From zero to the Linder Gallery in 5 minutes
I recently gave a rapid introduction to the Linder Gallery at Dublin’s first IGNITE event at the Science Gallery. Speakers are limited to exactly 5 minutes, and 20 slides which auto-advance every 15 seconds, quite a challenge! View the presentation here: