Journal | Venezia Arti
Journal issue | 33 | 2024
Research Article | Fine Technology Dialogue Across the Eastern Mediterranean in Giovanni Fontana's Bellicorum Instrumentorum Liber
Fine Technology Dialogue Across the Eastern Mediterranean in Giovanni Fontana's Bellicorum Instrumentorum Liber
Abstract
The early fifteenth-century Venetian physician Giovanni di Michele, known as ʻFontanaʼ, likely earned his name due to a fountain he invented, described in the Bellicorum instrumentorum liber, cum figuris et fictitys litoris conscriptus, an illustrated treatise on fine technology written around 1418. This essay explores Fontana’s connection with Arab culture, focusing on the relationship between his treatise and Islamic works on hydraulic fine technology, particularly automatic fountains, which were popular in both Islamic and Renaissance courts. The paper also highlights the influence of Fontana’s work on Agostino Ramelli’s sixteenth-century Le diverse et artificiose machine, a notable book on fine technology that includes descriptions of splendid automatic fountains.
Submitted: Aug. 31, 2024 | Accepted: Oct. 21, 2024 | Published Dec. 9, 2024 | Language: en
Keywords Automatic fountains • Hydraulic devices • Giovanni Fontana Fine technology
Copyright © 2024 Adriana De Miranda. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/VA/2385-2720/2024/01/003
