Artists as scientists: nature and realism in early modern Europe

In about 1400, northern European artists suddenly began to depict the natural and human world in a 'realistic' or 'naturalistic' manner. At about the same time, new ideas about how to describe nature realistically emerged among scholars investigating the natural world. Over the next two centuries, this new approach to nature (which eventually became known as 'science') and the belief that it could provide a realistic depiction of nature transformed human attitudes to nature and the material world. Artisans or craftspeople were central to this transformation and thus more important than is usually recognized in forming the new attitudes that characterized the Scientific Revolution.