Object Details
referenced
Galilei, Galileo
painter
Johnson, Crockett
Description
This is the third painting by Crockett Johnson to represent the motion of bodies released from rest from a common point and moving along different inclined planes. In the Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (1638), Galileo argued that the points reached by the balls at a given time would lie on a circle. Two such circles and three inclined planes, as well as a vertical line of direct fall, are indicated in the painting. One circle has half the diameter of the other. Crockett Johnson also joins the base of points on the inclined planes to the base of the diameters of the circles, forming two sets of right triangles.
This oil painting on masonite is #96 in the series. It has a black background and a wooden and metal frame. It is signed on the back: VELOCITIES AND RIGHT TRIANGLES (GALILEO) (/) Crockett Johnson 1972. Compare to paintings #42 (1979.1093.30) and #71 (1979.1093.46), as well as the figure from Valens, The Attractive Universe: Gravity and the Shape of Space (1969), p. 135.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Ruth Krauss in memory of Crockett Johnson
date made
1972
ID Number
1979.1093.64
catalog number
1979.1093.64
accession number
1979.1093
Object Name
painting
Physical Description
masonite (substrate material)
wood (frame material)
metal (frame material)
Measurements
overall: 124.5 cm x 63 cm x 3.8 cm; 49 in x 24 13/16 in x 1 1/2 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Crockett Johnson
Art
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_694688