[After Bernardino Telesio] - photo 1
[After Bernardino Telesio] - photo 2
[After Bernardino Telesio] - photo 3

[After Bernardino Telesio]

Lot 42
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 2 268
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 794574
Lot 42 | [After Bernardino Telesio]
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
[After Bernardino Telesio]

De Fluoribus and De Mari, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, late 16th century]

A contemporary and unpublished synthesis of Bernardino Telesio's heliothermal theory of tidal motion, likely prepared for circulation as a pamphlet in late 16th-century Italy.



198 x 135mm. 54 leaves, complete, modern foliation in pencil followed here, 20-23 lines written in black in (ink erosion and showthrough, occasional smudges and stains). Unbound, in a fitted red cloth case, title gilt.



Content: De Fluoribus, beginning 'Fluor est medius habitus materia, quae du[m] a magna crassitie ad tenuitate[m] expanditur [...]' ff.1-38; De Mari, beginning 'Mare enim qu[am] si no[n] simplex est, certe no[n] admodu[m] multiplex [...]' ff.38-52v.



The text of these two treatises appears to be unpublished, but the encomiastic reference to the late Renaissance philosopher Bernardino Telesio of Cosenza (1509-88) on f.52: '[...] legerit libros Bernardini Telesii Cosentini Principis philosophorum omnium', and the content of the discussions on the sea and the tides indicates that the manuscript was designed as a pamphlet to propagate Telesian heliothermal theories. According to Pietro Daniel Omodeo, 'Bernardino Telesio of Cosenza is one of the Renaissance thinkers who most strenuously defended the ideal of inductive science. He envisaged an inquiry of nature which was firmly anchored in empirical observation at a time in which this was far from common. A priori approaches, resting on standard corpora and a set of acknowledged authorities, prevailed in higher education and scholarly debates, despite the rise of a new practical culture in broad sectors of society' (P.D. Omodeo, ed., Bernardino Telesio and the Natural Sciences in the Renaissance, 2019, p.1). Much of Telesio's career was spent in fervent attacks on Aristotle and Galen's work: with his De Rerum natura iuxta propia principii published in Naples in 1586, he positioned himself at the head of the great Southern Italian movement which protested against the accepted authority of abstract reason, and was one of the first proponents of empirical thought, a forerunner for Tommaso Campanella, Giordano Bruno, Francis Bacon and René Descartes.



The text of the present manuscript synthesises Telesio's heliothermal theory in another work of his, the De Mari, his theory of the cold earth at rest and the hot sun in motion, and the cause of the continuous motion of the sea being its simmering, produced by solar heat and the formation of vapors ('manifeste calor est auctor', f.1). Waves are analogous to the boiling of water in a pot ('ibi a sole coqui amplius dicant', f.42). Telesio's tidal theory is part of an extremely varied Renaissance discussion of the phenomenon, which Omodeo boils down into four separate lines of thought: the traditional Aristoteleian astrological and lunar approach; the vitalistic explanations of Giordano Bruno and Francesco Patrizi, with their principle of universal animation; the Galilean mechanical explanations; and Telesio's own heliothermal explanation (Omodeo, p.144). These early attempts at rational-empirical explanations of natural phenomena coincided with an increase in geographical knowledge, maritime navigations and colonial expansion of the period, and came from a need to break from a astrological natural-philosophical position that was increasingly seen as an occult and superstitious.





Special notice


No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.07.2022 – 13.07.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>