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illustrations |
BETWEEN THE DEMONIC AND THE MIRACULOUS:
Athanasius Kircher and the Baroque culture of machines
Illustrations
1.
The “two-headed Imperial Eagle, vomiting water copiously from
the depths of its gullets” displayed in Kircher’s museum, from Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica, Iconismus
II, p. 181
2.
A magnetic Habsburg eagle. The Latin inscription around the
eagle’s feet “Et Boreae et Austri-acus”
is a play on words linking the compass needle (“the needle of both North and
South” to the house of Austria
(“Austriacus”). Detail from Athanasius Kircher, Magnes (1654 edn.) Sig. †3
verso
3.
Horoscopium
Catholicum Societatis Iesu, from Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna lucis et umbrae, 1646, Iconismus XX, p. 553
4.
An Egyptian speaking statue seen by Kircher and Schott in
the museum of Francesco Serra, Oedipus
Aegyptiacus, Tom. III, p. 488
5.
A pneumatic machine representing Isis and Osiris sacrificing,
and showing the fraudulence of Egyptian temple-magic from p. 245 of Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica
6.
A dog-headed Egyptian water-clock from Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, Tom. II2 ,
p. 340
7.
Multimammary goddess (Diana of Ephesus), facing p. 255 of
Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica(Iconismus
XXI)
8.
The “altar of the gods” – facing p. 247 of Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica (Iconismus
XIX)
9.
The magnetic anemoscope that Kircher built in Malta, from
Kircher, Magnes, 1654
10. Detail
of fountain from Kaspar Schott, Mechanica hydraulico pneumatica, p. 210
11. Detail
of “cancer vomitor” from Iconismus II, p. 181 of Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica
12. Sunflower
clock, from Athanasius Kircher, Magnes,
1654, p. 644
13. The
catoptric theatre, from Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae,
Romae: Hermannus Scheus; 1646, facing p. 892 (Iconismus XXXII)
14. Kircher’s reconstruction of the legendary sphere of Archimedes imitating the motion of the planets with the aid of magnets, from Athanasius Kircher, Magnes 1654
15. The
magnetic oracle, from Athanasius Kircher, Magnes, 1654, p. 275
16. Magnetic cryptographic machine from Athanasius Kircher, Magnes 1654 p. 290
17. Hydraulic organ with automata, from Kaspar Schott, Mechanica Hydraulico Pneumatica, Iconismus XLII facing p. 428
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illustrations |