text: Science Francis Bacon had a strong influence in the evolution of modern science, which was entering a key phase in this era, as the work of Johannes Kepler in Germany and Galileo Galilei in Italy brought the Copernican revolution to a new level of development. Bacon laid a foundation, and was a powerful and persuasive advocate for modern objective inquiry, predicated upon empiricism as a lens to study the natural world. This school of thought was in stark contrast to the dominating scientific philosophy of the time: Medieval scholastic authoritarianism. On practical rather than general levels, much work was being done in the areas of navigation, cartography, and surveying—John Widdowes' A Description of the World (1621) being one significant volume in this area—as well as in continuing William Gilbert's work on magnetism from the previous reign. Scholarship and the sciences, or "natural philosophy", had important royal patrons in this era—not so much in the King but in his son, Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and even his wife, Anne of Denmark.
  Arts and architecture
  The fine arts were dominated by foreign talent in the Jacobean era, as was true of the Tudor and Stuart periods in general. Paul van Somer and Daniel Mytens were the most prominent portrait painters during the reign of James, as Anthony van Dyck would be under the coming reign of his son. Yet the slow development of a native school of painting, which had made progress in the previous reign, continued under James, producing figures like Robert Peake the Elder (died 1619), William Larkin (fl. 1609–19), and Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1585–1627). Some would also claim, as part of this trend, Cornelius Johnson, or Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen (1593–1661), born and trained in London and active through the first two Stuart reigns.
  The decorative arts – furniture, for example – became increasingly rich in color, detail, and design. Materials from other parts of the world, like mother-of-pearl, were now available by worldwide trade and were used as decoration. Even familiar materials, such as wood and silver, were worked more deeply in intricate and intensely three-dimensional designs. The goldsmith George Heriot made jewellery for Anne of Denmark.