Vaas met bloemen before 1898

R. Brecx created this artwork, “Vaas met bloemen”, with dimensions of height 117 mm and width 90 mm. Here, an image of a vase of flowers is displayed on a page, yet it is flanked by columns of text. The flowers might suggest leisure and beauty, but here they appear in the context of something else. What, though? The text is in French, and the equations are of the kind one might find in a scientific treatise. Perhaps it is on botany or chemistry, in which case the image is intended to illustrate some larger argument. Consider the role that images play in relation to text. How do institutions of science and learning make use of visual imagery, and to what ends? Are they deployed for strictly illustrative purposes, or do they play some other more complex role? Historians can shed light on this question, drawing on sources from the history of science to better understand the changing relationship between images and scientific knowledge.