I’m writing from the courtyard of a particularly fine and (to my mind) vitally important institution, using their (surprisingly) free wireless (which runs at a charmingly-then-frustratingly glacial speed) to pop up these images of a huge statue, entitled “Newton”.
It is by the sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi.
Any idea where I am?
(Of course, I’ve given you enough information to find out by using Google… but maybe you’ve walked by it a number of times and might remember it?)
-cvj
Interesting
In center, while Plato – with the philosophy of the ideas and theoretical models, he indicates the sky, Aristotle – considered the father of Science, with the philosophy of the forms and the observation of the nature indicates the Earth. Many historians of the Art in the face correspondence of Plato with Leonardo, Heraclitus with Miguel Angel, and Euclides with Twine agree.
To finish my note to Alejandro. In a lovely coffee-table-style book: _Raffaello: La ‘Scuola di Atene’, the author Giovanni Reale describes each of the figures in Raffaello’s painting, but for the figure bending over to draw with a geometrical tool, assigns either Archimedes or Euclid (with a resemblance to Bramante, the architect) to that figure. Reale says that he is part of the ‘Geometry Group’ with Pythagoras. He says that there is a six-pointed star (like the Star of David) in the process of being drawn on the blackboard. He might not have studied the geometrical diagram very carefully, however. The 1997 book by Reale is about an esoteric interpretation of Raffaello’s painting, and in a newer text: Joost-Gaugier Cristiane: _Raphael’s Stanza della Segnature. Meaning and Invention_, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, page. 83, we read that the geometrical pattern is a demonstration of parallelism, one of Euclid’s theorems. Within two right triangles, which are superimposed on each other to form an irregular, but definitely not equilateral hexagram, the figure inscribes a rectangular pattern with parallel sides. The theorem described is about similar sides in triangle forms. So the author concludes that the figure is Euclid rather than Archimedes.
In any case, that Geometrical Group of Raffaello’s painting are according to my former American University of Rome astronomy student Nancy D’Ammassa, who was an art-history major, a demonstration of the two contrasting but interacting branches in mathematics as they were understood in the Renaissance; geometry (surface and shape) and arithmetic (numbers). She said that possibly the choice of such technically appropriate intellectual symbols to disclose the identities of Euclid and Pythagoras (the other Greek geometer in the foreground of the painting), required the cooperation of an accomplished mathematician to act as a consultant to Raffaello! (I gave Nancy an A.)
Yes. St. Pancras. Can’t say I’ve ever fallen in love there. Er,… I’ve never thought to use old Indian mathematics books in that way. Who knew? Must make a mental note to try that sometime, should the occasion present itself…. 🙂
Funny you mentioned the Newton Institute, by the way…. More later….
-cvj
The BL at St Pancras, not the old site in the British Museum. Also, one of the small prototypes of the statue was, last year, in the Newton Institute in Cambridge.
I fell in love in St Pancras, once. I strolled against a japanese girl, using some weak excuse I am afraid, something about getting copies of an old indian math book perhaps. One of the guys of the cloackroom, a friend to the girl, come “to protect” her, and then she switched languages from English to Spanish, to prove she was able to manage the issue by herself. Strong girl she was. We dated a couple times, went to my cousin restaurant in Old Brompton and to a concert in the Royal Festival hall; she was a musician but I never got the opportunity to hear her.
To put some out of their misery, the site is the British Library, by the way.
And yes, I was a bit suspicious of the whole “Newton” thing too….
-cvj
This splendid bronze reminds me of a dreadful event that took place in Cambridge, some thirty or so years ago. Back then a bronze bust of Dirac, crafted, I think, by Bollabas, sat in the DAMTP library: doubtless it was an inspiration to all. Sad to say, the pressures of the Cambridge Maths Tripos Pts II and III were such that several lost souls sought respite from their angst in beheading the bust, and spiriting its greater part away. I am not sure that this was ever recovered. Vandalism on an even greater scale was visited upon Newton’s ‘geometer’s’ bridge. Originally constructed with sufficient skill and insight to render bolts and their like nugatory, it was dismantled by (post tripos) larking larrikins, and could not be reconstituted. So they nailed it back together and were done with it.
The dude Paolozzi inspired Stuart Sutcliffe, the Beatle who never was. There is an enormous great construction of his on display in Edinburgh, along with a re-materialisation of his studio, much as he left it, crammed with allsorts of stuff.
>I see that some commentators hint it could be Euclid instead of Archimedes, because of the students around
That is probably a decades or a centuries long debate: I think it is instead because of what is on his tablet. I have two references on my kitchen table (the School of Athens is my favorite painting 🙂 ), but I’ll need to wait to write more until I am back from my conference. Is it possible, that Blake could have indicated Euclid instead? Ciao.
The thing I love about these photos is that they genuinely were taken at a time with lovely blue skies, which in no way resembles the weather of the past few months. Probably Newton is decidedly not enjoying the weather right now.
I was told yesterday that the stacks of books for the nation are located under that courtyard. I really should go down there and see for myself.
Sorry for digressing!
Interesting.
Big clue, Amara! I guessed only because of the history about Archimedes death, but it is amusing that Raphael draws him not only with the same tool, but also in the same posture. I see that some commentators hint it could be Euclid instead of Archimedes, because of the students around.
But in any case it seems likely it was the model for Blake, do you agree?
Alejandro: Good point, Archimedes often has such a tool in his hand (see number 18).
Or maybe you were supposed to be there and had to cancel in the last minute…
Have fun, looks like a good one.
Ah
http://platea.pntic.mec.es/aperez4/html/newton/geomalego.jpg
Was not Paolozzi, but Blake, the author of the scam.
Paolozzi is to be admired as bussinessman: you do a sculpture of Archimedes, they ask you for a Newton, and voila you sell a Newton.
Welcome to London, my dear. Enjoying the fine weather? I’ve been on campus round the corner from there at ICPS all week.