ROOM I

A versatile scholar – philosopher, artist, scientific discoverer

ROOM IV

The scholar – natural philosopher

ROOM V

Specialization in science

ROOM II

Scientific theory and practice

ROOM III

Approaching the birth of modern science

ROOM VI

The scholar of our times

The first portraits of scholars, intended as likenesses of the authors/writers, appeared in medieval illuminated manuscripts. They were usually representations of the four Evangelists: John, Mark, Matthew and Luke as well as the Fathers of the Church: SS. Ambrose, Gregory, Augustine and Jerome. These portraits, in addition to illustrating the authors themselves, showed their surroundings and the objects required for their studies. Thus there developed the depiction of a scholar in his study. The image of St Jerome – patron of scholars and intellectuals, had the strongest influence on the development of the scholar’s portrait. Portraits of men of learning, whose popularity grew in the 17^th century, represented either just the figure or the figure together with its attributes revealing the model’s occupation. Parallel with the scholars’ portraits appeared portrayals of philosophers, most often of Democrit and Heraclit symbolizing two diametrically opposed attitudes to life. Always smiling Democrit represented an optimistic attitude, always crying Heraclit portrayed a catastrophic vision of life. Their presence in scholars’ studies emphasized the importance of philosophy for scientific deliberations.

The interior of the scholar’s study reflected his interests and subject matter of his research. The first studies came into existence in antiquity. Then appeared astronomical observatories, alchemical, medical, metallurgical “laboratories” as well as workshops for distillation and breweries, where fermentation processes were got to know and improved.Until the 18^th century scholars enrolled in different fields of knowledge, combining interests in art, science and technology, medicine, and philosophy. They worked independently, often designing, making and modifying their instruments themselves. More than once these instruments led to new discoveries, being witnesses to the birth of new scientific theories. Those of them, which have been preserved, are indispensable source for studies on the history of science.

The civilization progress stimulated forming of the first practical sciences – astronomy and surveying. Social organization, trade, discovering of new lands, marking roads out, ground division, waging wars – these were only some of the factors determining the creation of instruments for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the basic quantities: mass, length and time.

The first scientists and practitioners in the field of astronomy and surveying used instruments based on angle measurement.

Pierwsi uczeni i praktycy - astronomowie i mierniczy - posługiwali się instrumentami bazującymi w swej konstrukcji na pomiarze kątów. Astrolabe, quadrant, measuring circle, theodolite were among the typical constructions used for that aim. Sundials were used to measure astronomical time. Abacus and J. Napier`s bones were handy in complicated calculations. Proportional sector was used for converting. Those instruments constituted the hard core of the early scientific equipment.

In the 17^th century group portraits of men of science emerged, starting with the famous Rembrandt’s painting Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp of 1632. Their appearance was closely connected with the rapid development of science. Group portraits of scholars had been painted as early as the 16^th century as allegories of science, and sometimes as allegories of both art and science, but those portraits did not depict individual features. Representations of one scholar with his attributes developed into portrayals of several figures showing as well the relations between them. Group portraits of men of science became popular in the 18^th century. At that time scholars working together were portrayed with increasing frequency. The previously developed iconographic type of a solitary scholar-philosopher, usually leaning over a book, was gradually giving way to group portrais as a result not only of changing methods of depiction in portraiture, but also of the development of natural sciences.

Although the contents of a 17^th century scholar’s study did not differ much from that of previous centuries, this was the time of intensive development in science, today referred to as the scientific revolution. Fundamental discoveries were made. The basic phenomena of classical physics were studied, and research into electricity and magnetism was begun. New instruments were conceived, but considerable time elapsed before they found their way to scholars’ studies. These newly-constructed instruments functioned as curiosities, and were frequently aptly termed natural magic. Prisms, kaleidoscopes, telescopes, barometers and thermometers provoked astonishment, but did not serve to confirm the truths of science. It was only in the hands of scholars that they were gradually becoming the means to produce a new, mathematical description of Nature.

In the 17^th century the hermetic alchemy rejected mysticism and slowly turned into modern chemistry and pharmacy.

Both new branches took a lot from alchemy: laboratory methods, vessels and vocabulary. Distillation, sublimation, crystallization were methods known and practiced by alchemists. Alchemic terms, such as aqua regia, alcohol, or aldehyds, have permanently entered the nomenclature of modern chemistry.

Experiments carried out in the laboratories found in universities as early as the end of the 18^th and beginning of the 19^th centuries, were immortalized on canvas. The painter best known for his group scenes depicting various scientific experiments was Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1794). The 19^th century abounded with many different portraits of scholars. Broadly speaking, there existed three models to depict men of science. The first was an official portrait, which emphasized not only the high academic standing of these eminent people, but also their social functions. It was especially in the 19^th century that these dignities rose in importance. These were official portraits, usually intended for rooms in stately public buildings, such as universities, libraries or the seats of learned societies. The second, intimate, model includes portraits in which the artists, in addition to rendering the subject’s features, tried to recapture the atmosphere of the scholar’s daily work. In such paintings the subject is usually shown at work, conducting experiments in his working clothes. The last, documentary, model applies primarily to portraits of university professors. These are for the most part small-format portraits performing a commemorative and documentary function.

The 18^th century saw a rapid transformation of the image of a study, parallel to the pace of progress in the development of the experimental sciences. A scientific basis was formed for the construction of optical instruments, such as microscopes and telescopes, vacuum pumps, electrostatic generators, a Leyden jar, an electric battery, early electrometers and other apparatus termed “philosophical” (Natural Philosophy) rather than “mathematical” as before. The foundations were laid for specialist laboratories. Previously-known objects of intellectual entertainment or curiosity were turned into apparatus for scholars and teachers. Excellently equipped observatories undertaking comprehensive astronomical investigations emerged. A study of a scholar-natural philosopher was created. A new profession of a demonstrator came into being, along with the first physics laboratories which were to popularize the new developing branches of science through public demonstrations.

The achievements of the 19^th century science and technology entailed a change in the character of a scholar’s work and his laboratory. For the first time science became a profession practiced as a source of income. In 1834 William Whewell, a philosopher from Cambridge, introduced the new term scientist, which referred to a person involved in science professionally. Hitherto pursued by academics and amateurs, science now became the domain of scientists in laboratories, engaged in work for the newly-developing industries. Areas of scientific research were narrowed giving a start to specialization in science.

At the same time laboratories became places of teamwork. New generation of measuring and recording instruments was based on the newly-discovered in the 1830’s electromagnetic phenomena. The first concepts of data processing emerged, mechanical calculating machines, still rather unreliable, were constructed. All these factors changed the image of a 19^th century scientific laboratory, from which ornamented instruments made of wood and noble metals were disappearing. Brass, aluminium and new alloys dominated than, to be superseded in the 20^th century by plastic.

In the 20^th century commissions for portraits of scholars came mainly from universities and various learned societies. Developing photography took over in great measure functions of portrait painting, especially the group portrait.In the first years of the 20^th century, after experiments with Impressionism and the acceptance of successive avant-garde trends in European art, the modes of viewing and depicting scholars grew in number immensely. While the set of attributes remained rather unchanged, the stylistic variety of the images became unlimited. Despite the wide diversity of style, the commemorative and documentary functions of portraiture remain the most important. Today universities continue to commission portraits of outstanding scholars. Thanks to that the likeness of the subject is preserved for future generations.

Progressive specialization in research and the increasing complexity of the apparatus used changed the image of a scientist’s laboratory in the 20^th century. Single instruments were replaced by sets put together from independent, separate units responsible for particular stages of measurement. Today, electronic apparatus has entered all fields of science. Concern for the precision of an instrument prevails over the aesthetic aspects.

Although the scholar’s study has changed diametrically over the centuries, the image of a present-day scholar does not vary greatly from that of the past. In totally different surroundings, he nevertheless remains, as before, solitary in the individual process of searching for Truth.