YALE UNIVERSITY ART GALLERYeCatalogue
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Prints, Drawings, and Photographs ~ Works on Paper - Drawings and watercolors info print send
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Object Details
Medium: Pen and brown ink over black chalk 
Dimensions: Sheet: 23.5 x 20cm (9 1/4 x 7 7/8in.); Framed: 52.1 x 39.4cm (20 1/2 x 15 1/2in.) 
Geog. Data:  
Period:  
Culture Central European 
The Astronomer Galileo (The Sense of Sight?)
ca. 1750-1760
Artist: Franz Karl Palko, Central European, 1724 - 1767
Everett V. Meeks, B.A. 1901, Fund
2004.3.1
Franz Karl Palko was the most accomplished member of a family of artists working in central Europe. He studied at the Academy in Vienna before working in Dresden, Prague, and Munich. He created lavish and dramatic Rococo decorative programs in the manner of Paolo Veronese and Giambattista Tiepolo; these are mostly lost today as their buildings were destroyed. The subject of this drawing is the astronomer Galileo, identified by the telescope, which virtually became his emblem. The instrument is also associated with allegories of the Sense of Sight, and it is possible that this drawing was one of a group showing the Five Senses, destined as a decorative scheme or even as a series of prints. Galileo's arm rests on an armillary sphere, and other astronomical instruments are nearby. 
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Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.