[Vwoolf] Orlando portrait

Caroline Webb caroline.webb at newcastle.edu.au
Tue Oct 7 20:23:59 EDT 2014


Indeed fascinating, and I withdraw my earlier insistence that they couldn't be these things.  The fact that the painting is shifting date makes a big difference, of course!

Long live lens caps.

Caroline
From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Jeannette Smyth
Sent: Wednesday, 8 October 2014 10:58 AM
To: VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Orlando portrait

I shall not be taking a victory lap.
Lens caps all around!!!
Jeannette Smyth


On Oct 7, 2014, at 3:37 PM, Christine Froula wrote


Greetings, Julie and everyone. My friend Claudia Swan, a historian of Dutch art, forwarded Julie Vandivere's query about the painting to a friend of hers, another expert, who replied (below).

Christine


Dear Claudia,

(Ik schrijf even in het Engels ten behoeve van je correspondent)

This really is an interesting painting!
Without doubt the object is a spyglass, probably with one drawtube which in the painting is in the collapsed position.
The two white circles are protective caps: one for the eye glass and the other for the objective lens.
At the time these costly hand held telescopes were made of ivory.
(See also the page from my book on the Louwman collection)

Actually the most prominent telescope maker of 17th century England was Richard Reeve(s), who was educated as an ivory turner.
(See: A.D.C. Simpson, 'Richard Reeve - The 'English Campani' - And the origins of the London telescope-making tradition', Vistas in Astronomy, Volume 28, Part 1, 1985, Pages 357-365).
See for instance also the trade card of John Yarwell from 1683.

However, the assumed date of the painting can NOT be 1610.
In my view the costumes can be dated a few decades later, in the period 1640-1660?
That would also make more sense with the object, which in my feeling also must be from that time span.
Besides, the second son of Edward, 4th Earl of Dorset was born in 1622!
Nevertheless, it must be one of the earliest depictions of an ivory spyglass.

By the way, what is a 'Necco wafer'?

My very best regards,

Huib Zuidervaart

----------------------------------------
Dr. Huib J. Zuidervaart
Senior Historian of Science

Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences - KNAW
www.huygens.knaw.nl<http://www.huygens.knaw.nl/>

P.O. Box  90.754
NL-2509 LT  The Hague
The Netherlands

Van: Claudia Swan [mailto:c-swan at northwestern.edu]
Verzonden: dinsdag 7 oktober 2014 2:04
Aan: Huib Zuidervaart
Onderwerp: Fwd: home

[...]

Ik schrijf dadelijk een antwoord [...] maar dacht, als iemand een antwoord heeft op de vraag hieronder (over de kleine witte cirkels) dan ben jij het, oder?

Hartelijke groet,
Claudia

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:

[Vwoolf] What do you think these are?

Date:

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:20:09 +0000

From:

Vandivere, Julie <jvandive at bloomu.edu><mailto:jvandive at bloomu.edu>

To:

vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu<mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu> <vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu><mailto:vwoolf at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>


The first edition of Orlando had this as one of its illustrations.  What do you think the little white circles are on the table?
I know the illustration was done at Knole by an unknown artist and is of Edward Sackville West "The Two Sons of Edward, 4th Earl of Dorset by Cornelius Nule in about 1610. In Orlando, the painting appears in black and white, but here I am including the colored one because I would love speculation on what the two white dots on the table are. They look like felt pads.  I know this might seem a bit silly, but I'm using the painting to make an argument.

They look like felt pads and might be to guard the glass on the telescope that is lying on the table.
But I'd hate to make that argument without some input. Necco wafers?


<Mail Attachment.jpeg>






<Detail.jpg><Sons of Edward, 4th Earl of Dorset .jpg><princess-mary-stuart-and-prince-william-of-orange.jpg><Yarwell.jpg><Pages from 2013-Louwman_&_Zuidervaart_Telescopes.pdf>_______________________________________________
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