The Renaissance, a period of significant intellectual, artistic, and cultural rebirth, marked the combination of art and science, especially through the application of geometric principles in artistic representation. This era witnessed the pioneering development of linear perspective, a technique that revolutionized the way depth and three-dimensional objects were portrayed on two-dimensional surfaces. The mathematical foundation …
Category Archives: Art History
Priestess of Delphi (Oracle or Pythia)
A twenty year dream came true this December, 2023, as I traveled to Adelaide, Australia to view John Collier’s Priestess of Delphi (1891), the Oracle, or Pythia. I was able to view the painting for two days. I am not afraid to say that the experience was overwhelming, and I definately had tears in my …
Detroit Arts – A Lifetime of Beauty 2023
Talking Oak I spoke
ONCE more the gate behind me falls;Once more before my faceI see the moulder’d Abbey-walls,That stand within the chace.Beyond the lodge the city lies,Beneath its drift of smoke;And ah! with what delighted eyesI turn to yonder oak. For when my passion first began,Ere that, which in me burn’d,The love, that makes me thrice a man,Could …
Vincent van Gogh and Lewis Carroll
A combination of Carroll’s famous poem at the Tea Party flying high in van Gogh’s Starry Night. Twinkle, twinkle, little bat, How I wonder where you’re at, Over rooftops, fields, and spires, Beneath the sky that never tires. Casting shadows, broad and deep, Over quiet towns asleep, Like a comet, you draw near, In the …
Codex Arundel
While reading Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Arundel last evening, I noticed that the Codex had less scholars examining it relative to others. The fluid dynamics of da Vinci have been extensively studied, with entire dissertations dedicated to the subject. I came across a curious drawing that exhibited turbulent flow. The text is written backward in …
Saint Augustine in His Study
Via photograph at Smithsonian in DC, Fine-Arts Museum.
Salvador Dalí
If someday I may die, though it is unlikely, I hope the people in the cafés will say, ‘Dali has died, but not entirely.’ Salvador Dalí
The History of the Navier-Stokes Equations
Over the course of a few years I have collected pictures, biographies, and other tidbits about the many famous people who have created, studied, and dedicated their lives to the Navier-Stokes equations. I set it to the music of Carmina Burana of the MIT Choir (Creative Commons). Enjoy!