[Vwoolf] What do you think these are?

[Caroline Webb]

Hi all,

I'm not actually convinced that the larger object is a telescope/spyglass.  Is this an accepted identification?  Telescopes were very new indeed (Wikipedia says 1608, but Gribbin's History of Science says it was developed by Leonard Digges in the 1550s but not publicised for a long time).  That's not in itself necessarily a problem--nobles were patrons and made a point of getting new things--but this one looks seriously small, even if what we're seeing is the eye-piece; in fact there seems to be indentation just past there, which wouldn't make sense for a telescope.  It looks to me to be a recorder, a very popular instrument at the time--we're seeing the bottom end of it.  The boy is being shown as a musician, a respectable amateur activity for a noble; Henry VIII (yes, that was earlier) owned 76 recorders, apparently, and was a composer himself.

In any case I don't think the pale objects are felt pads.  In this sort of painting the details are important/symbolic, and I don't see these particular accessories (to telescope or recorder) being seen as worthy of inclusion.  Game counters seem much more likely.

Caroline
-----Original Message-----
From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Danell Jones
Sent: Tuesday, 30 September 2014 3:37 AM
To: 'Jeannette Smyth'; VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] What do you think these are?

How about pieces from a board game? One for each boy--suggesting they are players in some large game or intrigue? 

If  you know where it is/who owns it, I am sure you could write to the curator and ask what they are.

When you find out, let us know!

Danell

-----Original Message-----
From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Jeannette Smyth
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2014 11:23 AM
To: VWOOLF at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] What do you think these are?

They pixelate when zoomed on. I think they look like lens caps, not separate lenses, as I first thought. I do think they are accessories for the telescope and not felt pads. Would not a nobelman's telescope in 1610 have its own fitted case, and not be left lying out on the cocktail table?

I suspect, that in 1610, when Galileo himself was discovering Jupiter's moons through a telescope, young Edward's telescope symbolizes everything Renaissance/heliocentric/humanist that could be symbolized. Lens caps off!
Yet, it revolves!!! (Galileo was not declared a heretic until 1616, I think.
But there was Copernicus to deal with.)

Jeannette Smyth

On Sep 29, 2014, at 8:20 AM, Vandivere, Julie wrote:

> 
> 
> 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?
> 
> 
> 
> <ORL_13585127053.jpeg>
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