Description
Book SynopsisJanello Torriani, known in the Spanish-speaking world as Juanelo Turriano (Cremona, Italy ca. 1500 – Toledo, Spain 1585), is the greatest among Renaissance inventors and constructors of machines. Contemporary literates and mathematicians celebrated Janello Torriani and his creations in their writings. It is striking how such fame turned into nearly complete oblivion, leaving only a few clues of a blurred and distorted memory dispersed here and there. This book wishes to show the central role that artisans formed in the Vitruvian tradition played in demonstrating through practical mathematics an increasing and positive control over Nature, a step rooted in humanist culture and foundational for the understanding of those historical processes known as the Scientific and the Industrial Revolutions.
Trade Review"Das gründlich recherchierte Buch kann jedem, der sich für die Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit interessiert, wärmstens empfohlen werden." ["The thoroughly researched book can be warmly recommended to anyone interested in early modern science and technology."] Günther Oestmann, Acta Historica Astronomiae (2019) 66: 210-211 "Today that our knowledge of Torriani’s life and work has vastly increased, the need was felt for a book illustrating the life of the great technician from Cremona. Zanetti’s volume fully meets this need and brilliantly makes use of the many sources available today, providing a detailed historical reconstruction of the different milieus frequented byTorriani at various stages in his life. Elio Nenci (Università degli Studi di Milano), Nuncius 34 (2019): 192-194 "I wholeheartedly recommend Zanetti's work, which chronicles the career of Janiello Torriani, "the prince among the architects of clocks", a master technician in the cutting of gears and a skilled hydrological engineer." Donald J. Kagay (University of Dallas), Sixteenth Century Journal XLIX/4 (2018): 1179-1181 "Thanks to deep delving in Italian and Spanish archives and wide reading in the latest secondary sources, Zanetti throws new light on Torriano [a.k.a. Torriani] and the social structures within which he worked. No one interested in the technology of this period can afford to ignore this book." Anthony Turner, Antiquarian Horology, March 2018, pp. 115-116
Table of ContentsIllustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction PART 1. A CENTRE OF EDUCATION FOR THE VITRUVIAN ARTISAN AT THE PERIPHERY OF THE EMPIRE 1. Janello Torriani's First Education Cremona, the Italian Wars and the Desire for a Better Life Fashioning the Aura of the Genius Family, Social Status, Education Humanist Pedagogy in Cremona 2. The Theoretical Clock The Science of the Stars Renaissance Scientific Instruments A Physician as a Mentor: Giorgio Fondulo (Cremona 1473-1545) 3. The practical Clock The Guild Janello Torriani the Blacksmith Between Public Clock and Private Workshop PART 2. THE EMPEROR’S CLOCKMAKER (1540-1558) 4. The Artisan Courtier The Grand Tour in Reverse A Broth of Clocks for the Emperor Climbing The Social Ladder 5. Networks and Technology in Habsburg Europe From Commoner to Courtier The Artisan’s Apotheosis The Ambassadors from Mantua and their Brokerage of Janello’s Inventions Janello Entrepreneur 6. The Microcosm The First Machine-Tool to Cut Gears Anatomy of the Microcosm PART 3. HYDRAULIC METAMORPHOSIS OF A CLOCKMAKER AT THE COURT OF THE NEVER-SETTING SUN 7. Mechanics: From Micro to Macro Automata, Watches And Great Machines Models and the Problems of Scale From Clockmaking to Hydraulic Engineering 8. Janello in Spain as a Royal Hydraulic Engineer (1563-1585) Hydraulic Engineering in the Habsburg Empire Toledo: a Paradigmatic Stage for Renaissance Water-Technology 9. The First Global Empire Produces the First Giant Water-Machine Qui Bono? Janello caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea Invention and the Practice of Secrecy Conclusions Bibliography Manuscript Sources Printed Sources Index
