Civilisation: The Light of Experience
Cast & Crew
Michael Gill
Kenneth Clark
Kenneth Clark
Joe Cooksey
Roger Crittenden
Michael Shah Dayan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
This chapter of Clark's history of Western civilization explores the first scientific era, when divine authority was replaced by experience, experiment, and observation. Early 17th-century Holland, more tolerant of religious differences than the rest of Europe, was first to profit from the change. The bourgeoisie of Amsterdam, eager to immortalize themselves, had portraits painted of their business groups. Rembrandt, the most influential painter of his time, interpreted biblical history in light of his own experience. Mathematics was the dominating faith of such thinkers as Descartes, who wished to discard preconceptions in favor of direct experience, as did Vermeer in his paintings. Vermeer's concern for the effects of light had its scientific counterpart in the invention of the lens for use in scientific instruments. In the 1660's, intellectual leadership shifted from Holland to England, where the formation of the Royal Society and the publication of Newton's Principia marked the summit of the era of observation. After the disastrous fire in 1666, London was rebuilt according to Christopher Wren's plan, which called for the construction of 30 city churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral. The Age of Experience also saw the first conscious division between science and the poetic imagination as well as the emergence of a clearer prose style. Few men realized that the growth of capitalism and the development of rational thought would lead to a new barbarism marked by increased greed, the loss of traditional skills, and a pecuniary and pragmatic rather than aesthetic approach to the arts.
Director
Michael Gill
Crew
Kenneth Clark
Joe Cooksey
Roger Crittenden
Michael Shah Dayan
Colin Deehan
A. A. Englander
Michael Gill
Dave Griffiths
Basil Harris
Peter Heelas
Maggie Houston
Carol Jones
June Leech
Kenneth Macmillan
Peter Montagnon
Bill Paget
Jesse Palmer
Jack Probert
John Taylor
Ann Turner
Ann Turner
Allan Tyrer
Malcolm Webberley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Amsterdam, London, and Greenwich. First shown in Great Britain on April 14, 1969 on BBC 2; the eighth in Sir Kenneth Clark's series on the history of Western civilization.
