Curious visions of modernity : enchantment, magic, and the sacred / David L. Martin.

Cambridge, Mass. ; London : MIT Press, 2012.

xviii, 255 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-248) and index.

Visions of modernity: an introduction -- Collection. Unpacking the collection ; Visions of wonderment: overcoming the logic of the treasure hoard ; Of Lux and Lumen: reflections on the sacred ; The rainbow Madonna: the transparency of scientific knowledge ; The "enlightenment" of curiosity: dispelling the enchantment of collection ; The fox, the fake, and the firmament ; The renewal of worlds: the "knowing" prince and the cult of the machine ; Postscript: from collection to exhibition -- Bodies. Scientific prestidigitations: the "collection" and repatriation of Yagan ; The three tasks of Andreas Vesalius: a "biography" of anatomy ; The life of infamous men ; The anatomy lesson of Dr. Nicolaas Tulp ; Representing open bodies: the birth of a scientific gaze ; Normative science and the "evasiveness" of anatomical illustration ; Carnivalesque anatomy: the narrative of the criminal-god ; Beyond iconography: toward a reclamation of the sacred ; Conclusion: dissecting statues/invigorating knowledge ; Postscript: fragments of Yagan -- Spaces. Visions of modernity: perspectives on the sacred ; Painting the "world picture": toward a genealogy of cartography ; Moral geographies/earthly technologies: the magic of geometric perspective ; Cartographic desire: mapping and the erasure of space ; Mapping and the colonization of space ; Modernity in ascension: the world picture mourning the celestial ; Postscript: the maze of linear discourse -- Conclusion. Scientific "visions" of the living body ; Monuments and masks: visions of a modern sacred ; Conclusion.