Natuurkundige instrumenten 1759

Nicolaas van Frankendaal made this print of scientific instruments at an unknown date using etching. The print shows a range of instruments used to investigate natural philosophy, or what we would now call science, and it provides insight into the culture of empirical observation in the 18th-century Netherlands. Notice the detailed depiction of each object, alongside numbers and letters allowing for cross-referencing. It is likely that this print comes from a textbook or encyclopedia designed to educate readers in the latest scientific knowledge. At this time, learned societies such as the Royal Society in England and the Royal Academy of Sciences in France, were gathering places for elite men to discuss and promote new discoveries. They helped to standardize scientific methods of observation and experimentation. How might this print have contributed to the broader popularization of scientific ideas in the Netherlands? Historians use various primary sources like textbooks, correspondence, and institutional records to better understand art's intersection with the history of science.