Surveying the Height of a Tower with a Quadrant

This monochromatic print depicts a geometrical exercise in surveying. On the right, a cylindrical stone tower with arched windows and crenellations rises from the ground. Two men wearing 17th-century hats and coats stand to the left of the tower at different positions along a horizontal line. Both men hold quadrants—triangular navigational instruments—up to their eyes to calculate the tower's height through trigonometry. The distance between them and the tower is marked with numerical values, and dashed lines represent their lines of sight to the top of the structure.

This illustration reflects the 17th-century application of Euclidean geometry and trigonometry to practical land surveying and architecture, typical of the era's transition toward empirical natural philosophy.