The Gentleman, the Virtuoso, the Inquirer - Cambridge Scholars ...

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Introduction
Coster article "Une description inédite de la demeure de Don Vincencio
Juan de Lastanosa" (Revue Hispanique, 1912, XXVI, pp. 566-610), where
is reproduced a seventeenth century description of Lastanosa palace,
gardens and collections, entitled Las tres cosas más singulares que tiene la
casa de Lastanosa en este año de 1639 9 . On the other hand, Ricardo del
Arco book La erudición aragonesa del siglo XVII en torno a Lastanosa
(Madrid, 1934), where is reproduced the totality of primary sources
preserved in the Spanish libraries. The Organizing Committe don't use
these works and the reason was simply: we selected only the reports and
chronicles made by Lastanosa or his contemporaries. Del Arco selection
included copies realized in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, defectives
and incompletes and Las tres cosas mas singulares… is a falsification, as
some historians have discovered recently 10 .
***
There is a last novel aspect of Lastanosa: Art and Science in the Baroque.
The approaches made in last twenty years saw Lastanosa as an artistic and
literary patron 11 . Our approximation has been done from the scientific
perspective or, as would say Lastanosa contemporaries, considering him as
a natural philosopher.
***
Lastanosa: Art and Science in the Baroque was an experiment. In The
Gentleman, the Virtuoso, the Inquirer. Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa and
the Art of Collecting in Early Modern Spain we can see the results.
Amazing results, we can conclude. We wish to acknowledge the
professional assistance of all IEA members, especially Fernando Alvira,
Pilar Alcalde, Carlos Garcés and José María Esparza. Our sincere gratitude
is due to Harold J. Cook, Antonio Barrera, John Slater, Jorge Cañizares-
9 Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, Ms. 18727 45 .
10 FERMÍN GIL ENCABO (1999), "La ficción telamoniana de Pellicer en torno a
Lastanosa", en: Actas del V Congreso de la Asociación Internacional Siglo de Oro,
Madrid, pp. 623-634 y FERMIN GIL ENCABO (2003), "Lastanosa y Gracián: en
torno a Salastano", en: Actas del I Congreso Internacional Baltasar Gracián:
pensamiento y erudición, Huesca, I, pp. 19-60.
11 Signos. Arte y Cultura en Huesca: De Forment a Lastanosa. Siglos XVI-XVII,
Huesca, Diputación Provincial, 1994 y JOSÉ ENRIQUE GIL LAPLANA (ed.), La
cultura del Barroco. Los jardines: arquitectura, simbolismo y literatura (Actas del
I y II Curso en torno a Lastanosa), Huesca, IEA, 2000.