Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ceara Rossetti | gildshire.com | 17th January 2020

Eighteenth century European royalty believed that ‘knowledge is power’. What better way to show this than with ornate scientific objects, like clocks, compasses, telescopes, that displayed both scientific ingenuity and regal erudition. And, if this messaging was too subtle, there was a sub-text. As the history of the Dresden Green diamond makes clear …’if you’ve got it, flaunt it’.