Scientific Instruments in Constcamer Paintings: Pictorial Space as a Context for Interpretation

Representations of scientific instruments abound in the seventeenth-century genre of constcamer paintings. These works of art depict interiors full of rich collections of artifacts, natural materials, animals and people, and were created almost exclusively in Antwerp and Brussels. In contrast to material and written sources, such images provide us with a context, captured in paint, which contributes to our understanding of the contemporary meaning of scientific instruments. This presentation will highlight the wide variety of instruments (mainly optical and mathematical) that are included in constcamer paintings. Depending on how we define ‘scientific instrument’, between 63 and 100 constcamer paintings from the early modern period can be identified as including representations of scientific instruments. The study of these images from the perspective of the visual and material culture of science not only provides further insight into the variety of instruments that existed at the time, but also sheds light on how painters produced these representations, either by using an actual object or by resorting to a preexisting depiction. It will be shown that the instruments in the paintings reflect a thriving glass industry and the activity of skilled goldsmiths in local workshops and at the archducal court. While over the course of the seventeenth century the novelty of such instruments declined, their association with knowledge of nature, the role of vision and the art of painting persisted. As such, the instruments in constcamer paintings denote both a practical and a philosophical dimension, relating to the world of the senses as well as the intellect