Mémoire sur un rouet a filer des deux mains a la fois 1777

Clousier’s “Mémoire sur un rouet a filer des deux mains a la fois”, or Memoir on a spinning wheel for spinning with both hands at the same time, is an illustrated book, likely made in France sometime in the 1700s. Though not much is known about Clousier himself, the book gives us a glimpse into the scientific and technological preoccupations of the 18th century. The emblem at the center of the cover is a clue that it was likely made for presentation to a member of the French aristocracy, possibly even the royal family. At a time when the French court took a keen interest in the burgeoning field of applied mechanics, this “memoir” represents an attempt to court favor by illustrating an innovative design for a spinning wheel. In its plates, the book treats the spinning wheel not as a mundane domestic tool, but as an object of intellectual and aesthetic contemplation. The history of art reminds us that the meaning of an image resides not only in its aesthetic qualities, but also in the social and political contexts that give rise to it.