JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Johannes Vredeman de Vries (ca.1527-1604, “The King of Architects” among the Dutch, at least), in his dedication to the reader (“To the Studious Viewers of Optics”) in his great classic on perspective writes:
“My eyes and mind took pride
In Sacred Optics. Thereunto allied
was a fructifying labor, forty years
I plied this art devoutly, Here appears
a doctrine worn by time. That art is famed
For trustworthiness which trusty rules have framed…
This art, which guides the eye and soothes the brain,
with images, but never cheats the sight
with lying views…”
Anyway, it was he who popped into mind when I came across this noteworthy image in the 1868 volume of Journal of the Franklin Institute. It is a lovely piece of Found Art, the perspective part of which looks to be not so correct, the vanishing point appearing on a horizon only 500′ away. But no matter, I may be wrong, and the point of all of this is the “found art” aspect, which I think is very strong, and lovely.
[Detail] The image appears in “West Side and Yonkers Elevated Patent Railway” and comes right after a long and heavy mathematical treatment on transferring power on belts and pulleys.
