Browse Items (202 total)

In “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” Edmund Burke critiques the revolution that had recently occurred in France as irrational and impractical. Burke, a pillar of 18th-century conservatism, advocated for a well-supported divine right…

Completed in 1768 by J. June, this etching depicts licentiates of the Royal College of Physicians marching in protest at Warwick-Lane Castle in 1767. These “medical militants”, as the artist calls them, were expressing their grievances with the…

In 1579 the French surgeon Ambroise Paré published a series of drawings considered by many to be the first true attempts at creating functional prosthetic limbs. While prosthetics in some forms had existed for centuries before Paré’s work, they were…

Italian politics throughout the early modern period are a complex matter with city states constantly trying to gain more prestige and power. Throughout this constant power struggle, princes were adapting various political ideas to create a more…

In 1713 Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Hapsburg lands Charles VI issued the pragmatic sanction. This edict overruled the long-standing imperial law against a woman inheriting states in the Holy Roman Empire and was necessitated by Charles’ lack of a…

During the early 17th Century Europe underwent a large-scale currency crisis due in large part to the near constant state of war during the century. In no place was this more apparent than in Spain where the real had undergone tremendous inflation as…

This engraving of Martin Luther depicts him mostly likely after he wrote the 95 thesis. The engraving of Martin Luther is shaped as an oval with Latin and Dutch sentences below it talking about Luther’s beliefs. This piece was likely used as…

John Locke is also heavily influenced by Machiavelli even though it is less apparent on the surface. Locke states in the Second Treatise that that have to be rules the guide and limit the power of a ruler. This is based off Machiavelli’s political…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau political theories were constructed off the foundation of Italian political thought. Throughout Rousseau’s historical and political writing, it is clear he is trying to present a favorable view of Machiavellian philosophy and he…

This portrait of William III represents the interesting government which developed in the Dutch Republic following its independence from Spain. William III served as stadtholder of the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands from 1672-1702. The stadholder…

Released in 1689, this engraving of Robert Boyle (1627-1691) presents a portrait of one of the great natural philosophers of the Scientific Revolution. Widely considered to be the first modern chemist, Boyle contributed to the understanding of air…

Menasseh ben Israel, a Sephardic Jewish rabbi from Amsterdam, embodies aspects of the religious environment of the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Throughout the 17th century, Jewish communities from both Iberia (Sephardic) and Germany…