A virtuoso of the arts and sciences. Oil painting.

Reference:
45827i
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Credit

A virtuoso of the arts and sciences. Oil painting. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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Description

On the table are architectural plans, a musical score, a harp and an electric generator, all of which suggest that the sitter is a virtuoso of the arts and sciences. Could he be Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, called Le philosophe inconnu (1743-1803), or a follower of Saint-Martin?

Physical description

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 99.5 x 74.5 cm

Lettering

Inscribed on book in Italian, top left: (on spine) "Osservaz: Micros:"; (on back cover) "Micros: Sammartiniano". No person called Sammartini or similar has been identified who is also connected with micros[copy] in the eighteenth or nineteenth century (a Rudolfo Samnartini [sic] is mentioned as having written an article in histology in 1929, according to H. Freund and A. Berg (edd.), Geschichte der Mikroskopie, vol. 2, Frankfurt a.M., 1964, p. 43). A book called Saggio di osservazioni microscopiche was published by Lazzaro Spallanzani (not Sammartini) in 1765. However, Carlo Castellani, 'La réception en Italie et en Europe du ʻSaggio di osservazioni microscopicheʼ de Spallanzani (1765)', Dix-huitième siècle, 1991, no. 23, p. 90) says "Il apparaît que le Saggio di osservazioni microscopiche, aujourd'hui considéré comme un véritable tournant dans l'évolution de la science moderne avait eu un impact assez modeste sur ses contemporains, aussi bien en Italie qu'à l'étranger". It would therefore be surprising if "Sammartiniano" were a restorer's substitution for "Spallanzaniano"

Reference

Wellcome Collection 45827i

Type/Technique

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