#friedrich meyer

on the culture of early modern fireworks spectacles see, among others, kevin salatino: incendiary art: the representation of fireworks in early modern europe (1997) [link to pdf]

source: Munich, BSB, Cgm 8143, fol. 311r-316r

Fireworks of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries amounted to a form of artificial nature, showing suns, stars, comets, fiery exhalations, snow, rain, thunder, and lightning. These effects were considered extremely powerful and deeply impressed the princely patrons and courtiers who used them as tools of political distinction. This distinction hinged on knowledge or experience of pyrotechnics. The gentleman or courtier was expected to be virtuous, partly by the habit of reading, and numerous new books on fireworks were published in the sixteenth century to offer instruction in the creation of pyrotechnic effects. Those who understood or had familiarity with fireworks then experienced them as pleasing diversions, while those who did not were imagined to be terrified as if by natural portents.