«Conspicilla» ovvero delle lenti e degli occhiali prima di Galileo Galilei”

It may come as a surprise when observing works by Stradanus to see the portrayal of eyeglasses which anyone who is interested can learn about in Alessandra Baroni Vannucci’s excellent book2 . The engraving Conspicilla, for example, depicting a shop selling eyeglasses and various characters wearing eyeglasses, could seem like an image of pure fantasy. In reality, as we will see, Florence in the period prior to Galileo was highly important for the production of eyeglasses. The inclusion of these devices in Van Der Straet’s works should, therefore, come as no surprise since he was a wellrounded character and undoubtedly interested in what would today be called technological innovation. To understand these transitions, therefore, we will endeavour to outline the evolution of eyeglasses, beginning with their invention.