Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Evolution from Our Microbial Ancestros by Lynn Margulis, Dorian Sagan (review)

PAINTING THE HEAVENS: ART AND SCIENCE IN THE AGE OF GALILEO by Eileen Reeves, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A., 1997. 303 pp. $45.00. ISBN: 0-691-04398-1. Reviewed by David Topper, History Department , Univ. of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 Canada. E-mail: . This splendid book on the interrela­ tionship between Galileo's astronomi­ cal observations and some artistic de­ pictions of the heavens in the early seventeenth century provides a thor­ ough historical analysis of several key scientific issues, some of which have not been studied this way before. As well, the study shows how a scientifictheological controversy was played out in the world of art. A major portion of Reeves's book is devoted to the impact of Galileo's dis­ covery of what was called "secondary light" or "ashen light" (i.e. the reflec­ tion of sunlight from the earth back to the moon; today it is usually called "earthshine"). Coupled with this was the question of the substance of the moon. Also attention is given to the new star of 1604 and the aurora borealis . In all, Reeves studies seven paintings by four artists. Four of the paintings are by Galileo's friend Lodovico Cigoli; the others are by Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez and Francisco Pacheco. Her detailed scholarship certainly comes to fruition in the analyses of the paintings of Cigoli: Reeves has written a masterful study of the impact of Galileo's science on Cigoli's art. She confirms the connection of the painting of the Virgin to Galileo's discoveries and shows how Cigoli responded to the controversy over the substance of the moon, a dispute that was theological at its core. Although the concept of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was not made dogma in the Catholic Church until 1854, the idea was planted much earlier and was believed by many in Galileo's time—primarily, it seems, by those opposed to his assertions about the substance of the moon. Since the moon was a symbol of the Virgin, it too must be and remain "pure." Hence, Galileo's discovery contradicted not only an ancient Aristotelian (scientific) belief about the moon; it also came up against a then-contemporary (theologi­ cal) belief about the nature of Mary. Now, it comes as no surprise to this historian of science and art to see again that, in the seventeenth century, theo­ logical matters were intertwined with scientific ones. But as accustomed as I am to this, I was still surprised to see the extent to which some theologians would go to preserve their belief system in reaction to Galileo's assertion. Thus, for example, they played a word game (which goes back at least to the four­ teenth century) relating "mare" to "Mary": mare (plural, maria) is Latin for the dark areas of the moon, and Maria is Spanish for Mary. Of course, this was not wordplay for them but seri­ ous symbolism. Yet it was symbolism at variance with the contemporary intel­ lectual context of naturalism in art, whereby a distinction was made be­ tween symbolism and reality. One rather amusing twist to this con­ troversy involves the interaction of art and science. Although Galileo's skill as an artist aided him in portraying the opaque and rough moon, some critics turned this around by asserting that the seemingly three-dimensional (3D) mountains and valleys on the moon "seen" by Galileo were merely illusions on a smooth surface—like the 3D illu­ sions on a flat Renaissance painting! Reeves's fascinating study is confined to the early seventeenth century. For a longer view, I look forward to the publi­ cation of Scott Montgomery's forth­ coming Expanding the Earth: The Moon and Western Imagination, a book on the history of the conception and depiction of the moon since ancient times. I have read the manuscript and can assert that it will be as important to the "big pic­ ture" as Reeves's splendid book is for the important era she has explored in such detail. MICROCOSMOS: FOUR BILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTION FROM OUR MICROBIAL ANCESTORS by Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, CA, U...