During the 16th century, the philosophical foundations of Greek mathematics gradually gave way to a broader theory which would bring spectacular progress in the sciences. However, the spread of the new concepts in craftsmanship altered the whole basis for ancestral craft practices linked with the notion of measure. By the end of the 18th century, the last traces of these ancient processes had finally been erased.
Allegory of the victory of computation with figures. The method of computation
changed in the late Middle Ages but the practices associated with the previous method of numeration pervaded the craft world for long afterwards.
These changes had not yet taken place when viols and violins appeared. The craftsmen of the time worked according to principles as yet unchanged by scientific progress.