[A scientist named the universal artist from the Grand Academy of Lagado] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [A scientist named the universal artist from the Grand Academy of Lagado]
Subject: Learned Institutions and Societies; Scholars; Scientists in Literature; Satire; Fictional Works; Fictitious Characters; Imaginary Places; Imaginary Creatures
Period: 1800-1850;
Geographic: Balnibarbi; Laputa; England
Description: Here we see the scientist nicknamed the ‘universal artist’ from the Grand Academy on Balnibarbi. This man oversaw fifty other scientists all working on several different hypotheses, including condensing air into a tangible substance, softening marble to use it as pillows, petrifying hooves of living horses, and sowing the land with chaff to make it more virtuous. Gulliver encountered him in the wing of speculative learning. This man is likely an allusion to Sir Robert Boyle, a scientist who conducted experiments in several aspects of the natural world and was also a theologian. In this image, the scientist is depicted with a particularly large head, likely to indicate his intelligence. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Vignettes
Identifier: mta:21697
Language: ger
Source Name: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
Parent Collection: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843); Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843)
Image: mta_21697_OBJ.png
Collection: Gulliver's Travels
Subject: Learned Institutions and Societies; Scholars; Scientists in Literature; Satire; Fictional Works; Fictitious Characters; Imaginary Places; Imaginary Creatures

Media: mta_21697_OBJ.png