Londons fountaine of arts and sciences

by Felix C. H. Sprang

With Heywood’s pageant 'Londons Fountaine of Arts and Sciences' as the point of departure, this study charts the growing awareness of scientific thought in early modern London as it is reflected in visual culture at large and theatrical performances in particular. The book examines the cultural practices that advanced and shaped our modern concept of science and argues that the rise of the "arts and sciences mathematical" was anything but coincidental. In order to understand the roots of our modern concept of science, the study claims, we must turn to the popularization of scientific endeavours in London at around 1600 and consider the vested interest by an emerging social class, the middling sort. This commitment, as it is reflected in the plays, masques and pageants at the time, was decisive for advancing experimental science and a mathematical view of nature.