Crafting Worldviews: Art and Science in Europe, 1500–1800 examines the inseparable relationship among art, science, and European colonialism from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century—an era of voyage, trade, and Europe’s territorial dominance on a global scale. The objects featured in this multidisciplinary exhibition cross the modern-day boundaries of art and science and range from the everyday, such as books, maps, globes, drafting tools, microscopes, playing cards, and sundials, to the more unusual, such as a hand-cranked model of the solar system, an automaton clock, and anatomical figures. Drawn from across the University’s campus and crafted from both locally and globally obtained materials, including brass, ivory, mahogany, and ebony, the works featured are remarkable not just for their exquisite design but also their intricate construction. Together, they illuminate the critical role that art and science have played in shaping Europeans’ understanding of the world and their place within it.

Pieter van der Aa, Four Views of the Kingdom of Kongo, from the book La galerie agreable du monde, ca. 1729
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven