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Agostino Scilla: A Baroque Painter in Pursuit of Science

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Science in the Age of Baroque

Abstract

Agostino Scilla (1629–1700), a disciple of Antonio Barbalunga in Messina and Andrea Sacchi in Rome, was a prolific painter, well-known numismatist, and the author of one of the most important publications on fossils in the seventeenth century. Scilla’s Vain Speculation Undeceived by Sense (1670) helped to usher in a new understanding of fossils in the seventeenth century. Cited approvingly by Leibniz and to some degree plagiarized by John Woodward (who eventually acquired Scilla’s fossils and drawings), Vain Speculation added further weight to the argument that fossils were remnants or imprints of living beings. This article examines Scilla’s work as an important example of a painter’s understanding of nature in Baroque Italy. It explores Scilla’s claim to be a better interpreter of nature than any scholar in light of his relationship to the scientific communities in Messina and Rome, and his understanding of art and science in the works of Leonardo, Galileo, the Accademia dei Lincei and Accademia del Cimento.

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  1. Department of History, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305-2024, USA

    Paula Findlen

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  1. , Unit for History & Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2006, New South Wales, Australia

    Ofer Gal

  2. , Unit for Interdisciplinary Studies, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel

    Raz Chen-Morris

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Findlen, P. (2012). Agostino Scilla: A Baroque Painter in Pursuit of Science. In: Gal, O., Chen-Morris, R. (eds) Science in the Age of Baroque. International Archives of the History of Ideas Archives internationales d'histoire des idées, vol 208. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4807-1_6

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