Today, a clear line distinguishes artist from scientist. An archive of historical artwork that pictorially depicts scientists and their experiments will allow for the ability to chronicle certain transformations of artist as scientist (for example, Leonardo Da Vinci) to the separate spheres of artist and scientist. By analyzing artworks that depict scientists with their experiments, we are given a window on how the scientist, or science itself, is imagined through historical eras. Investigations of this kind characterize the goals of this research project, which aims to ask the question: what does artistic representation say about scientific representation? What does science as reflected in the eyes of the artist convey about the nature of knowledge, and seeking knowledge, born in a modern scientific idiom?

The student apprentice, Emily Adams, developed a database of paintings and drawings, with a focus on the 16th through the 20th century period. She also gathered information on the artists, scientists, and experiments depicted, and looked into artists’ relevant correspondences and personal writings. The work gathered from the student’s research took the form of image database and bibliography.