This course traces the parallel histories of art and science in classical Islam, without assuming in advance any substantive links between the two. Rather, it shall be the fundamental aim of the course to investigate and identify instances of any disjunctions, overlaps, or mutual interplay between the two grand spheres of thought and activity in the Islamic milieu-particularly in the case of geometry and architecture on the one hand, and the theories of vision and the visual arts on the other. A central concern of the course is the comparative sociological question of the respective status and self-image of, and relationships between, the natural philosopher and the artisan, the builder and the mathematician, and the craftsman and the applied scientist. No prerequisites. All readings in English.