Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Lenses in Renaissance Science

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy

  • 157 Accesses

Abstract

Lenses – curved pieces of glass that can focus light to create magnified images of objects – must be included among those essential and irreplaceable instruments whose use helped to view reality in an unprecedented way. For example, lenticular artifacts such as telescopes, microscopes, and eyeglasses, literally allowed to focus a new image of the world, up to persuade mankind on an optical basis that – as Shakespeare’s Hamlet said – “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Annales du Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre /Annales of the Congress of the International Association for the History of Glass (1958–).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barovier, Rosa and Cristina Tonini (eds.). 2013–2014. Study days on Venetian Glass. Approximately 1600’s. In Proceedings of Atti della Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e naturali. Special Issue. Venezia: Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedini, Silvio A. 1961. The optical workshop of Giuseppe Campani. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 16: 18–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedini, Silvio A. 1966. Lens making for scientific instrumentation in the seventeenth century. Applied Optics 5: 687–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellanger, Jacqueline. 2006. Histoire du verre: L’aube des temps modernes 1453–1672. Paris: Charles Massin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolt, Marvin. 2016. Making microscope lenses in the 1600s. http://blog.cmog.org/2016/09/22/making-microscope-lenses-in-the-1600s/. Accessed 9 Nov 2016.

  • Bray, Charles. 1995. Dictionary of glass: Materials and techniques. London: A. & C. Black.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupré, Sven. 2000. Mathematical instruments and the ‘Theory of the concave spherical Mirror’: Galileo’s optics beyond art and science. Nuncius 15: 551–588.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupré, Sven. 2005. Ausonio’s mirrors and Galileo’s lenses: The telescope and sixteenth-century practical optical knowledge. Galilaeana 2: 145–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fenzi, Federica, Marja Mendera, and P.A. Vigato. 2009. Technology of Mediaeval and Renaissance glass in Tuscany (Italy): An interdisciplinary approach to the study of production indicators. In Annales of the 17th Congress of the International Association for the history of glass, ed. K. Janssens et al., 326–332. Brussels: ASP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleishman, David et al. 2016. Eyeglasses through the ages. http://www.antiquespectacles.com/history/ages/through_the_ages.htm. Accessed 4 Nov 2016.

  • Godfrey, Eleanor S. 1975. The development of English glassmaking 1560–1640. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, E. Barrington. 1959. Glass through the ages. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Honey, W.B. 1987. English glass. London: Bracken Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilardi, Vincent. 1976. Eyeglasses and concave lenses in fifteenth-century Florence and Milan: New documents. Renaissance Quarterly 29: 341–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilardi, Vincent. 1993. Renaissance Florence: The optical capital of the world. Journal of European Economic History 22: 507–542.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilardi, Vincent. 2001. The role of Florence in the development and commerce of spectacles. Atti della Fondazione Giorgio Ronchi 56: 163–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilardi, Vincent. 2007. Renaissance vision. From spectacles to telescopes. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby, D. 1993. Raw materials for the glass industry of Venice and the Terraferma. Journal of Glass Studies 35: 65–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, Dan, and Ward Lloyd, eds. 1992. The history of glass. London: Black Cat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langhamer, Antonín. 2003. The legend of bohemian glass. A thousand years of glassmaking in the heart of Europe. Zlín: Tigris ed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, David C. 1984. Optics in sixteenth-century Italy. In Novità celesti e crisi del sapere: atti del Convegno internazionale di studi galileiani, ed. P. Galluzzi, 131–147. Firenze: Giunti-Barbera.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacFarlane, Alan, and Gerry Martin. 2002. Glass. A world history. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maitte, Corinne. 2014. The cities of glass: Privileges and innovations in early modern Europe. In Innovation and creativity in Late Medieval and Early Modern European cities, ed. Karel Davids and Bert De Munck, 35–54. Farnham/Burlington: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandò, P.A., et al. 2008. La qualità delle lenti di Galileo. In Il telescopio di Galileo. Lo strumento che ha cambiato il mondo, ed. Giorgio Strano, 62–85. Firenze: Giunti.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCray, W. Patrick. 1998. Glassmaking in Renaissance Italy: The innovation of venetian cristallo. The Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 50: 14–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCray, W.P., Z.A. Osborne, and W.D. Kingery. 1995. Storia e tecnologia del vetro calcedonio veneziano del Rinascimento [The culture and technology of venetian chalcedony glass]. Rivista della Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro 6: 259–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendera, Marja, et al. 2000. Archaeology of glass: Medieval and renaissance production in Italy. Characterization and classification of production indicators: An interdisciplinary approach. In Annales du 14e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, ed. Jennifer Price et al., 223–226. Lochem: AIHV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moretti, Cesare. 2009. The chemical practice of glassmakers in Renaissance recipe manuscripts: The dressing and treatment of raw materials. In Annales of the 17th Congress of the International Association for the history of glass, ed. K. Janssens et al., 351–354. Brussels: ASP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moretti, Cesare, and Silvia Moretti. 2000. Le materie prime dei vetrai venziani: Natura, lessico e fonti di approvvigionamento rilevate dai ricettari dal XIV al XIX sec. In Annales du 14e Congrès de l’Association Internationale pour l’Histoire du Verre, ed. Jennifer Price et al., 326–330. Lochem: AIHV.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neaman, Judith S. 1993. The mystery of the Gent Bird and the invention of spectacles. Viator 24: 189–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, Phoebe, ed. 1987. The encyclopedia of glass. London: Spring Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, Edward. 1954. Did Roger bacon invent eyeglasses? Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences 7: 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. Mark. 2015. From sight to light. The passage from ancient to modern optics. Chicago/London: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tait, Hugh, ed. 1991. Five thousand years of glass. London: British Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tait, Hugh. 1997. The golden age of venetian glass. London: British Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trivellato, Francesca. 2000. Fondamenta dei vetrai: lavoro, tecnologia e mercato a Venezia tra Sei e Settecento. Rome: Donzelli.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Helden, Albert. 1977. The Invention of the Telescope. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verità, Marco. 1985. L’invenzione del cristallo muranese: una verifica analitica delle fonti storiche. Rivista della Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro 15: 17–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verità, Marco. 2013–2014. Secrets and innovations of venetian glass between the 15th and 17th centuries. Raw materials, glass melting and artefacts. In Study days venetian glass. About 1700, Atti della Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e naturali, 53–68. Venezia: Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Special Issue.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, David. 2012. Glass, a short history. London: Smithsonian Books, and the British Museum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wypyski, M.T. 2009. Technical study of renaissance venetian enamelled glass. In Annales of the 17th Congress of the International Association for the history of glass, ed. Koen H.A. Janssens et al., 529–535. Antwerp: University Press Antwerp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zecchin, Luigi. 1971. Il ricettario di Giovanni Darduin. Rivista della Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro 3: 21–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zecchin, Luigi. 1986. Il ricettario Darduin: un codice vetrario del Seicento trascritto e commentato. Venezia: Arsenale.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Università Ca’ Foscari, Venezia, Italy

    Matteo Cosci

Authors
  1. Matteo Cosci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matteo Cosci .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

Section Editor information

  1. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Matteo Valleriani

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Cosci, M. (2018). Lenses in Renaissance Science. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_940-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_940-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation