“Wie kan deß Menschen Aug das Eitle so belieben?”

Abstract

Abstract G. Ph. Harsdörffer’s story collection Der Geschichtspiegel (1654) directly addresses the epistemological concept of visuality. Harsdörffer combines stories with emblems and in an appendix presents twenty-five exercises on catoptrics, that is, the branch of optics dealing with reflection and mirroring. Some of the stories present typical interpretations assessing virtues and vices; these cases are illustrated by particularly despicable crimes such as rape, infanticide, and cannibalism. In contrast, the other stories deal with baroque natural history, e.g. entomology, nautical science, botany, alchemy, and number theory.