cover image WRITING ON HANDS: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe

WRITING ON HANDS: Memory and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe

Claire R. Sherman, . . Univ. of Washington, $35 (300pp) ISBN 978-0-295-98072-0

Focusing on really fine art by such masters as Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, Leonardo da Vinci and a host of anonymous but highly accomplished creators, this exhibition catalogue (for a show at Dickinson College's Trout Gallery in Pennsylvania and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.) reveals the Middle Ages' dependence on the human hand for everything from arithmetic to music, not to mention fortune-telling. Edited by art historian Sherman (Imagining Aristotle), the essays and catalogue entries combine erudition with accessibility. Sachiko Kusukawa, a research fellow in the history and philosophy of science at Trinity College, Cambridge, contributes a particularly lucid and intriguing chapter describing a hugely important treatise on "finger-reckoning" written by the English historian Bede (c. 673–735). Martin Kemp, a professor of art history at Oxford and recognized authority on the art of Leonardo da Vinci, also contributes a useful short chapter on anatomical art, while Brian P. Copenhaver, professor of history and philosophy at UCLA, provides a somewhat more abstruse essay on divination through use of the hands. Generally, though, academic-speak is kept to a friendly minimum, given the remote nature of the subject. For its excellent, hundred-plus reproductions of etchings and engravings and intriguing focus, this well-thought-out book will be attractive for all larger art history collections, while the cover will attract the digitally curious to higher-end display tables. (July)