Baan van Venus voor de zon, 6 juni 1761 1761

This diagram, made by an anonymous Dutch artist, depicts the transit of Venus across the sun on June 6, 1761. Celestial events were of huge importance in the 18th century, when the scientific method was increasingly applied to understanding the world. The transit of Venus was a rare opportunity for scientists to measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This diagram reflects the era’s preoccupation with rational observation and measurement, and the new authority of scientific institutions. The detailed annotations and precise rendering of Venus’s path are typical of the scientific diagrams of the period. The use of Dutch points to the country’s strong tradition of scientific inquiry. It speaks to the era’s faith in reason and empirical observation as tools for understanding the universe. To understand the diagram fully, you might consult the scientific publications of the time. It would be helpful to understand the social history of science. This object encapsulates the spirit of the Enlightenment, where science promised objective truth about the world.