The New Star, the New Nose: Tycho Brahe's Nasal Prosthesis: A Nosepiece for Peter

Abstract

Tycho Brahe’s loss of part of his nose in a duel has become an important part
of his afterlife. The exact nature of his nasal prosthesis–of brass, gold, or
silver–remains an enigma, not even solved at his exhumation in 2010. This essay discusses the materiality of Brahe’s new nose and contextualizes it within cutting-edge sixteenth-century rhinoplasty. The shiny nose, given fetish status by Freud in 1927, became an object of ridicule in seventeenth-century satire, but only Brahe knew how to link the microcosmic and the macrocosmic, the heavenly and the earthly stars.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftNordic Journal of Renaissance Studies
Vol/bind12
Sider (fra-til)93-105
Antal sider11
ISSN2597-0143
StatusUdgivet - 21 apr. 2017

Emneord

  • Det Humanistiske Fakultet
  • Tycho Brahe
  • rhinoplasty
  • nasology
  • astronomy
  • poetry
  • satire

Citationsformater