AllMovie

This installment of the public television series Civilisation examines the turn of events in 17th and 18th century Europe. Science and art had been strongly influenced by religious concerns, so the flowering of civilization brought radical changes. These shifts in thinking are most apparent in Dutch art. Civilisation, Vol. VIII: The Light of Experience takes a close look at the realism of these Dutch paintings and demonstrates how developments in the telescope and microscope revealed a world previously unknown to the Europeans.