ARTH 349 Studies in the History of Print: Art and Science in Print (16th to 18th Centuries)

• Instructor: Kristina Parzen

This course examines the production, distribution, and reception of scientific prints and related illustrations in Europe from the 16^th to the 18^th centuries. During these periods, known as the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Europe went through profound cultural, intellectual, and scientific changes that impacted the relationship between art and science. This course will consider this intersection between the arts and sciences in printed materials across areas of knowledge including but not limited to cartography, cosmography, anatomy, medicine, natural history, botany, and anthropology. Considering the art and science of printed images, this course will examine the graphic and schematic representation of information that has been gathered through methods of observation, surveying, measuring, experiment, and visualization. Over the term, students will consider such questions as: across the periods of study, how do art and science intersect in printed images? What is the significance of the graphic and printed arts in the production of knowledge? What is an art and a science of mapmaking/anatomical study/physiology/classification/illustration/etc.? How do prints work as descriptive tools and as active agents in the production and dissemination of knowledge? How do prints both represent and construct knowledge?

Major reoccurring themes taken up in this course include: the materiality and processes of printmaking, scientific inquiry and its innovations, nature and observation, curiosity and experimentation, allegories of knowledge, knowledge circulation and access, and science and imagination. Printed objects of study will include single-sheet prints, books, treatises, early encyclopedias, maps, globes, printed instruments, almanacs, and pamphlets. Some cross- and trans-cultural exchanges in the print trade between Europe and the Americas, Europe and Asia, and Europe and Africa will be considered. Students will be assessed through graded assignments (in-class and take home) and participation.