Centennial Fanfare lecture : Dr. Filson on Renaissance automata and the sacred.

Format:

Video

Contributor:

Filson, Lily, speaker.

Series:

Academic Video Online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Francesco I, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, 1541-1587.

Francesco.

Robots--Italy--Religious aspects.

Robots.

Robots--Italy--History--16th century.

Hydraulic machinery--History--16th century.

Hydraulic machinery.

Genre:

Lectures.

Nonfiction films.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (59 minutes)

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Privately Published, 2025.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

video file

Summary:

This lecture presents a revisionist account of the Medici villa Pratolino and its extraordinary program of sixteenth-century automata. Filmed at Southeastern University, Dr. Filson explores how Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici and his circle of engineers, alchemists, and philosophers designed a landscape that merged mythological spectacle, advanced hydraulic engineering, and Neoplatonic-Hermetic theories of animation. Drawing on engravings, archival descriptions, and the material culture of grottoes, waterworks, and court performance, Dr. Filson argues that Pratolino functioned not merely as a technical marvel but as an early modern experiment in god-making. The lecture concludes by tracing Pratolino's afterlives, from its Baroque transformation to its influence on European court culture and the eventual dispersal of its automata.

Participant:

Lily Filson, speaker.

Notes:

Title from resource description page (viewed January 12, 2026).

OCLC:

1561124901