[The universal artist from The Grand Academy on Balnibarbi] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [The universal artist from The Grand Academy on Balnibarbi]
Period: 1800-1850;
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 1843 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Book Illustrations
Identifier: mta:21006
Language: ger
Source Name: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
Parent Collection: 1839 Stuttgart Grandville vol. 2; 1839 Stuttgart Grandville vol. 2
Image: mta_21006_OBJ.png
Collection: Gulliver's Travels
Subject: satire; scholars in literature; Scientists in literature; fictional works; imaginary places; Fictitious characters; imaginary creatures