The Age of Discovery

15th-16th Century

Exploring the World

Portuguese Expeditions

Vasco da Gama’s Route, 1497

Spanish Expeditions

Colonization and the Slave Trade

African Slave Regions, 15th-19th c.

Slavery in BrazilJean-Baptise Debrel, 19th c.

Portrait of an African Slave WomanAttr. Annibale Carracci, c. 1580s

Advancing Science

The AmbassadorsHans Holbein the Younger, 1533

Joannes FaustusUnknown German Painter, 17th Century

The Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg, 16th-c. Engraving

Gutenberg Bible, 1455

Printers in 1568

Cartography

Ptolemy, c. 150, Reconstructed 15th c.

Cantino World Map, 1502 (Portugal)

Johannes Ruysch, 1507 (Low Countries)

Pietro Coppo, 1520 (Venice)

Diogo Ribeiro, 1529 (Portugal/Spain)

Abraham Ortelius, 1570 (Low Countries)

Mathematics

ArithmeticPinturicchio, 1495

Portrait of Luca PacioliJacopo de’ Barbari, 1495

A Course in the Art of Measurement with Compass and Ruler

Albrecht Dürer, 1525

Alchemy and Astrology

The Zodiac and the BodyGregor Reisch, 1503

Portrait of Emperor Rudolf IIHans von Aachen, 1590s

John DeeUnknown Artist, 16th Century

The AlchemistPieter Bruegel the Elder, 1550s-60s

Francesco I in His Alchemical LaboratoryStradanus, 1570

The AlchemistStradanus, 1570

Alchemist’s LaboratoryHans Vredeman de Vries, 1595

Astronomy

Nicholas Kratzer, Astronomer to Henry VIIIHans Holbein the Younger, 1538

On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies

Nicolas Copernicus, 1543

Copernicus (Conversation with God) Jan Matejko, 1872

The Copernican System, 1543

Anatomy

On the Structure of the Human Body

Andreas Vesalius, 1543

Medicine

Ten Books of Surgery

Ambroise Paré, 1564

Leg Prosthetics

Paracelsus

Syphilis, Albrecht Dürer, 1496

Zoology

Albrecht Dürer

Young Hare, 1502

Rhino, 1515

Hans Hoffmann

Late 16th Century

Ulisse Androvandi

Late 16th Century

Red Hartebeest and Mountain Coati

Gallus Turcicus

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Late 16th Century

Indian Mongoose

Red-Flanked Dulker (Antelope)

Blue-Headed Quail Dove

Keeping Time

Prague Astronomical Clock, 1410

St. Mark’s Astronomical Clock, Venice, 1496

Hampton Court Astrological Clock, 1540

Clock in the Form of a Ship for Rudolf IIAttr. Hans Schlottheim, c. 1580

Table ClockDavid Ramsay, 1610

Ballistics

Mortar Trajectory, Niccolò Tartaglia

Music

The Sense of Hearing, DetailJan Bruegel the Elder, c. 1617