Review: Scholar, courtier, magician: The lost library of John Dee [exhibition at Royal College of Physicians Museum, London, 18 January - 28 July 2016]

• Main Author: SOON, Emily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3385; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4642/viewcontent/PUBLISHED_Review_of_John_Dee_Emily_Soon_Dec_2016.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In the mural the acclaimed illustrator Quentin Blake created to commemorate Cambridge University’s 800th anniversary (2009), the Cambridge alumnus and polymath John Dee (1527 – 1609) comes across as a delightfully demented figure. Cloaked in black and surrounded by books and odd objects, Dee looks intent on conjuring up visions from within a large crystal ball. Blake’s watercolour encapsulates the popular image of Dee as a dabbler in the dark arts, one whose quest for the philosopher’s stone represents the equally dark state of learning thought to exist before the emergence of modern science. Indeed, the contemporary cultural fascination with Dee-as-conjuror draws upon a longstanding dismissal of Dee’s work within scientific circles.