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the virgin and the telescope: the moons of cigoli and galileo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2005

sara elizabeth booth  and
albert van helden
sara elizabeth booth
Affiliation:
university of houston and rice university
albert van helden
Affiliation:
university of houston and rice university
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in 1612, lodovico cigoli completed a fresco in the pauline chapel of the basilica of santa maria maggiore in rome depicting apocalypse 12: “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.” he showed the crescent moon with spots, as his friend galileo had observed with the newly invented telescope. considerations of the orthodox view of the perfect moon as held by philosophers have led historians to ask why this clearly imperfect moon in a religious painting raised no eyebrows. we argue that when considered in the context of biblical interpretation and the rhetoric of the counter-reformation, the imperfect moon under the woman's feet was entirely consistent with traditional interpretations of apocalypse 12.

Type
2.the context of the artists: astronomy and its new representations
Information
Science in Context , Volume 14 , Issue s1 , June 2001 , pp. 193 - 216
Copyright
2001 cambridge university press