WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Jan. 13, 2010  -- Cornell University Press has announced the publication of "The Mirror, the Window, and the Telescope," by Williams College Professor of Art Emeritus Samuel Edgerton.

In his new book, Edgerton brings new insight to a topic of enduring interest in the fields of art history and science: linear perspective and the way it changed not only Renaissance art but also influenced the technological and scientific developments of the time.

"At a time when the intersection between art and science is of rising interest to practitioners in both camps, Edgerton shows how deeply these two fields have been interconnected," writes Margaret Wertheim, author of "The Pearly Gages of Cyberspace: A History of Space from Dante to the Internet.

From Fra Antonino Pierozzi's preaching on optics, to Filippo Brunelleschi's demonstration of a new technique in painting, to Galileo's use of a telescope to look at the surface of the moon, Edgerton narrates the odyssey of linear perspective from its birth to its status as the a priori way of seeing the world.

Edgerton demonstrates the importance of linear perspective in the scientific realm, attributing even space travel in part to the possibilities linear perspective presented.

He argues against critics of linear perspective who consider it a tool of Western oppression that can stunt artistic creativity, painting instead linear perspective as the work of medieval Christians who longed for order and divinity in their lives.

The journey that began as a medieval attempt at spirituality - a way to see the divine before heaven - culminates in the not-so-spiritual telescopic realization that the "perfect sphere" of the moon is in fact pitted and irregular. It is the passage from religious to secular, from the spiritual to the academic.

A consideration of the art of Masaccio, Masolino, Donatello, and Fra Angelico prior to and following 1425 - ostensibly the time of Brunelleschi's pioneering explanation of linear perspective - allows readers to experience what Edgerton calls "the excitement gauge." 

"Edgerton celebrates perspective as a 'positive idea': he cares about what perspective has accomplished in Western culture, from mapping and exploration to the latest achievements of digital astronomy," said James Elkins, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Edgerton has written widely about the Renaissance, including "The Renaissance Rediscovery of Linear Perspective" (1975) and "The Heritage of Giotto's Geometry: Art and Science on the Eve of the Scientific Revolution" (1991). He is also the author of Theaters of Conversion: Religious Architecture and Indian Artisans in Colonial Mexico.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and joined the Williams faculty in 1980 as a professor and director of the graduate program in art history. He retired in 2007.

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college's 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students' educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student's financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

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News: Laura Corona