Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon
Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen),  Euclid, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramius, Risner and Kepler by François de Aguillon

Master treatise on optics that synthesized the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Euclid, Vitellion 1613

François de Aguillon

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  • About the artwork
    Opticorum libri sex. Philosophis iuxta ac mathematicis utiles.
    Antwerp, Ex officina Plantiniana, widow & sons of Jan Moretus, 1613. Folio. With large woodcut printer's device on recto of last blank, engraved allegorical title-page by Pieter Paul Rubens, 6 allegorical half-titles engraved by Theodore Galle after designs by Rubens, and over 600 woodcut illustrations and figures in the text. Contemporary vellum.

    First edition of a classic on optics and perspective by the Jesuit François de Aguilon (1566-1617). The work, one of the few books illustrated by Pieter Paul Rubens, is a landmark in Baroque book illustration and presents a master work in optics. Aguilon was charged with the project of organizing in Belgium the teaching of exact sciences useful in commerce, geography, navigation, architecture and military engineering, which led to the composition of the present "master treatise" (DSB) on optics that synthesized the works of Euclid, Alhazen, Vitellion, Roger Bacon, Pena, Ramus, Risner and Kepler. Of special and the greatest interest are the fine allegorical title, providing a series of ingenious references to the alliance of vision and reason, and the beautiful perspective designs at the heads of each part, all designed by Pieter Paul Rubens. Some professional restorations to binding; some slight traces of use. Fine copy of a classic on optics which influenced numerous 17th-century artists and scientists.

    De Backer & Sommervogel I, col. 90; DSB I, p. 81; Honeyman 43; Kemp, Science of Art, p. 101 ff., et passim; Poggendorff I, col. 18; Sotheran 43-44; cf. Exhibition Cat. P.P. Rubens als boekillustrator (Antwerpen 1977),  pp. 21-26, 3a-3j.
  • About the artist
    François de Aguilon (1567, Brussels – 1617) was a Belgian mathematician, physicist and architect. His father was a secretary to Philip II, king of Spain. In 1586 he became a Jesuit in Doornik (Tournai). In 1598 he moved to Antwerp, participating in planning and constructing the Carolus Borromeuskerk (Carolus Borromeus church). In 1616 he started a special school for mathematics in Antwerp. His book Opticorum libri sex philosophis iuxta ac mathematicis utiles (‘Six books of optics, useful for philosophers and mathematicians’) was published by Balthasar I Moretus in Antwerp in 1613. It was illustrated by PieterPaul Rubens. Christiaan Huygens was inspired by this book.

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