Teaching Euclid in a practical context: linear perspective and practical geometry (Q2432648)

In the earliest Italian translation of Euclid's \textit{Optics} from 1573, the translator Egnazio Danti lamented that this discipline had been neglected for long ``among men of science'' and in the philosophical schools and only kept feebly alive by ``mechanical artificers'' - obviously a part of the general offensive of scholars to subordinate the knowledge of practitioners to their own kind of knowledge, and a parallel to for instance Vesalius's more famous attack on the ignorance of surgeons with no theoretical training. As in the case of Vesalius, the offensive inaugurated a phase where theoretical science was gradually to reach relevance for practice - and as in the case of Vesalius, the attack on practitioners' knowledge was biased and unfair. The latter point is dealt with in the article under review. At first it describes briefly the presence of practical geometry in a number of abbacus treatises from the 14th century, then the relations between, among others, certain abbacus masters and Humanist environments interested in geometrical optics and between practical geometry and linear perspective. The second part describes the impact of such relations on the educational system: beginning in schools linked to artisans' workshops, the applied geometry of figurative arts and technical problems was soon also taught in schools linked to the court (and carrying the name ``academies'') - some (like the Florentine \textit{Accademia del Disegno}) primarily intended for figurative artists, others (like the \textit{Accaddemia Delia} in Padova with which Galileo had to do) for gentleman-warriors. In the conclusion it is pointed out that the ``methods of teaching'' of such schools were eventually transformed into ``methods of scientific research'', and thus had a great impact on the science of the 17th century (Vesalius and Danti notwithstanding, one may add).