Illustratie voor 'Den Arbeid van Mars' van Allain Manesson Mallet 1672

Romeyn de Hooghe etched this illustration for Allain Manesson Mallet’s 'The Labours of Mars' with meticulous detail. Here, geometric forms take center stage, floating above a distant fortification, perhaps a comment on the emerging science of military architecture. These shapes, rendered with mathematical precision, remind us of Plato's Academy, where geometry was seen as a path to understanding higher truths. Yet, unlike the eternal forms sought by the Greeks, these shapes are grounded in the practicalities of warfare, suggesting a shift from abstract ideals to concrete applications. The rising sun in the corner, a symbol of enlightenment, casts its rays upon these geometric forms, as if to illuminate the marriage of knowledge and power. We see echoes of this in Renaissance perspective studies, where artists sought to unlock the secrets of visual representation, blurring the lines between art and science, echoing through time, each era imbuing it with new significance.