Art as science: scientific illustration, 1490-1670 in drawing, woodcut and copper plate.

Observation, depiction and description are active forces in the doing of science. Advances in observation and analysis come with advances in techniques of description and communication. In this article, these questions are related to the work of Leonardo da Vinci, 16th-century naturalists and artists like Conrad Gessner and Teodoro Ghisi, and 17th-century micrographers like Robert Hooke.