Robert Fludd’s Musical Instrument Illustrations
These ingenious illustrations are from the book De Naturae Simia written by the very controversial physicist, astrologer, philosopher, and mystic Robert Fludd (1574-1637) who was first to discuss the concept of blood circulation. Maybe this is why so many of his instruments seem to involve hydraulics.
Sources: BibliOdyssey, Robert Fludd on Wikipedia
I am an italian student graduating on musicology. I have done a thesis on the De Templo Musicae by Robert Fludd, included is the complete trancription, italian translation, an introduction and notes. If anyone is interested on this work, contact me at guarientoluca at libero.it