BONUS MATERIAL:
10 minute podcast on returning objects to their original homes. Link here
Article on the troubling social histories attached to the collection of natural specimens HERE
For further reading on Science and Colonialism
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/are-natural-history-museums-inherently-racist.html
"Peale, Illuminated" graphite on mylar, Kate Samworth 2012
Environmental note on buying insects, shells, and stuffed specimens: Many species are disappearing from the wild due to market demands. While not all of the species bought and sold online are listed as endangered, we are driving them towards extinction through collection. Please research sources of naturalia carefully before making any purchases.
Today we’ll look at the role of collecting objects in the foundation of modern science and the origins of the museum in cabinets of curiosities.
detail from portolan chart, 1468, by Gracioso Benincasa
Cinchona officinalis (quinine bark)
Hand-colored copperplate engraving by Mary Evans, 1876
Advancements in navigation, cartography, and ship design allowed Europeans to set out in search of new trade routes.
Spain, Portugal, Italy, and other European nations had sailed the Mediterranean Sea for generations, but in the 15th century, the Portuguese ventured beyond the known routes, which had come under control of the Ottoman Empire, and discovered that the trade winds could be used to establish new trade routes throughout the Atlantic. This was the beginning of the triangle trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Slavery is an ancient practice, but expanded greatly between the 15th and 17th centuries once the Europeans colonized the New World.
The Portuguese brought shiploads of enslaved people to work their plantations in Brazil, and the other countries followed suit.
The British, Portuguese, French, and Dutch captured and sold slaves from their colonies in Africa.
Europe's economic power enabled advances in science and technology, but this progress depended on the exploitation of non-Europeans. Indigenous communities were decimated through exposure to new diseases, overwork, and massacres.
Finding specimen abroad took knowledge and skill and required the expertise of indigenous peoples and/or the labor of the enslaved. Little is known of the individuals who gathered the specimens found in natural history museums around Europe and the US and thereby contributed to the foundation of modern science.
article on the significance of the trade winds found here
There were occasional government sponsored scientific expeditions to Africa and the Americas, but those were very rare. Most of the voyages made to those places were involved in the "triangle trade," which sent manufactured goods to Africa, transported enslaved people from Africa to the Americas, and returned to Europe with dyes, tobacco, cotton, rice, sugar, and other raw materials.
Collectors were often complicit in the slave trade as they depended upon slave trading ships for passage and for shipping their treasures home. They also relied on slavers in foreign lands for food, housing, and access to local sources of materials and knowledge.
Collectors often gathered body parts for medical study or mere curiosity. Skulls and bones might come from burial grounds and taking parts from the living, like samples of skin diseases or worse, was not off limits.
Some advances in medicine perpetuated the slave trade. For example, medical research of plants from the tropics, like cinchona (aka quinine), allowed Europeans to survive in their colonies abroad. As the colonies grew safer and more profitable, their commercial activity expanded, which increased the demand for slavery.
top: Cabinet of Ferdinando Cospi, (1606-1686)
The collecting frenzy among royalty, nobility, and the rising merchant class was hardly limited to natural objects.
They were also quite interested in man-made objects, which tended to fall into three categories:
Artificialia includes things made by humans, not including the highly valued luxury items like porcelain, textiles, jewelry, etc., that were imported from abroad.
Collectors of curiosities were interested in such items as religious icons, weapons or hunting gear, clothes, antiquities, automata, coins, hand-tools, jewelry, containers, handicrafts, and so on;
Scientifica includes instruments like astrolabes, compasses, clocks, magnifying glasses, etc.
Exotica included examples of physical anomolies like conjoined animals or shrunken heads or other rarities of the natural world.
Collections like these were used as a means to understand God and the natural world and collectors aspired to gather and arrange a microcosm that would reveal the order and logic behind divine creation.
Studying and arranging natural objects was a means of gathering data, and drawing the objects from observation often revealed details that may have otherwise been overlooked.
Cabinets of curiosities.served informational or philosophical roles for apothecaries and naturalists.
They could also be used to reflect the intelligence, power, and access of their holders. The arrangement and displays often filled multiple rooms, sometimes they filled entire wings of an estate or castle.
The collections were private and accessible by invitation only. To some, they were hubs of scientific inquiry and philosophical debate.
They could serve as exclusive sites where diplomatic arrangements were made. Trading rarities was a means of establishing relationships and negotiating favors.
Cabinet from the workshop of Melchior Baumgartner;silversmithing by Jeremias Sibenburger, c. 1659
Special furniture made of the finest materials (like hardwoods, ivory, bone, mother of pearl, oil paintings on copper, and so much more) were created to house the objects. The drawers were often lined in velvet to protect the objects and provide a contrast in color and texture to maximize their appeal.
The drawers and doors often included images of people in the clothes or costumes of the four continents known at that time (Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas).
from the book On Monsters and Marvels, by Ambroise Pare, pub. 1573
Anomalies, such as conjoined animals, were an important part of these collections and were thought to be omens. Even human beings were sometimes treated as objects, seen as pathologies rather than as individuals.
The European understanding of nature was informed by Christianity, which held that the universe is rational and orderly. During the Renaissance, there was a shift towards Humanism, which emphasized human experience and ability to reason as the sources of knowledge, rather than accepting the authority of the Bible.
Under the influence of Humanism, naturalists believed that all things were created by the divine and connected by visible or invisible similarities. They looked for these connections in the natural objects of the cabinets as a means of revealing divine order. Humanists stressed the need to test existing theories and gather empirical evidence.
A cocoa plant specimen, Theobroma cacao, from the Sloane herbarium.
Apothecaries who could afford to kept cabinets of plants and animals to use in their research. Their collections frequently included Herbaria, books made of soft, absorbent paper into which dried plants would be pressed or glued. Creating these books in the 16th and 17th century was a popular pastime and was considered an important part of education. All manner of plants were documented in this way- from medical or edible plants to flowers appreciated for their beauty.
These hand made books complemented the popular published herbals that compiled ancient writings on medicines and their preparations. Apothecaries of the Renaissance compared their own treatments and remedies to the written word and documented the plants used in their medicines when possible. (Sometimes they could not obtain the entire plant, but only the part necessary for treatment)
Sometimes the collections included living specimen, which were kept in botanical gardens, aviaries, and menageries. Many collections were attached to libraries and rooms full of paintings and prints related to nature- with some of the images used as place holders for rare objects.
Naturalists were especially interested in the origins of the objects in their collections and often gave detailed questionnaires to ship's captains to gather detailed information about unfamiliar flora and fauna.
By the end of the 17th century, naturalists and illustrators began to travel and document distant lands. Their sketches and descriptions were often published as travel books/natural history accounts of the region visited.
additonal reading on Crispin van de Passe and the search for the ideal form here
Crispin van de Passe
‘t Light der teken en schilderkonst (1643)
from L'histoire naturelle éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales: L'oryctologie, qui traité des terres, des pierres, des métaux, des minéraux, et autres fossiles (pub. 1755) by Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville
rt: an image from D'Argenvilles book on the design and irrigation of botanical gardens
Collecting curiosities was so popular that by the mid-16th century, treatises on the proper organization of such collections appeared.
According to an 18th century treatise on how to form a proper collection written by (garden designer and secretary to King Louis XV) Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville , one should include: sculptures and paintings; "curious items from home or abroad"; and "antlers, horns, claws, feathers and other things belonging to strange and curious animals.”
D'Argenville also wrote a book on designing and irrigating botanical gardens.
Etching from the Museum Wormianum, an illustrated catalog of the naturalist, Ole Worm, published after his death.
Worm was a physician, natural historian, and professor at the University of Copenhagen. His natural history book is typical of the kind published in the 16th and 17th century. It included descriptions of the items in his collection, grouped by his determination of their most relevant similarities.
This frontispiece depicts a typical cabinet. Aside from complete specimen and animal parts, like bones and antlers, it also includes man-made objects, like the tools needed to collect them, like bows and arrows and boat paddles (seen hanging on the back wall).
for more on Ole Worm
This illustration of the Great Auk is the only document of a living specimen and is based on the pet that was given to him
from Ferrante Imperato's book, Dell'historia Naturale, pub. 1599
Ferrante Imperato
One of the earliest examples of these catalogs is called Dell’Historia naturale, and was organized by an apothecary from Naples named Ferrante Imperato. It documented his collection of around 35,000 specimens.
His 28 volume catalog imitated the tradition established by Pliny the Elder. Nine of the volumes were dedicated to alchemy, two covered living species, and the remainder described gems, minerals, and stones. Imperato included commentary on other author’s ideas as well as his own observations and theories.
for further reading
Many naturalists of this period gathered materials believed to have alchemical properties, though experiments in alchemy were considered heretical by the Catholic church and had to be done in secret.
Some naturalists believed that there were objects with magical properties and Imperato's original volumes included descriptions of some of them, like distorting mirrors, speaking tubes, and magic lanterns. However, his son edited these out, for fear of charges of heresy.
He did, however, include some remedies taken from folklore, such as preventing drunkenness by placing an amethyst in the navel, "cleaning" ones eyes with sapphire to prevent lust, and wearing a jasper amulet to stop bleeding.
Ferrante Imperato
A corner of a cabinet,
by Frans II Francken, 1636
The popularity of cabinets led to a new genre of painting, developed by Frans Francken and produced in the family workshop, which included his father, Frans I, and his brothers Heironymous and Ambrosius.
Their cabinet paintings often included portraits of the collector and contained symbols and allegories that reflected the concerns of the era, such as cultivating personal virtue and expertise. Natural philosophers of the era believed that contemplating the objects or images of the objects could transfer knowledge of nature, and these paintings provided opportunity for contemplation.
Notice the reflection of the naturalists and the shelves of specimens in the mirror on the right.
The Cabinet of an Art Collector,
by Hieronymus Francken II, 1621
Now these paintings serve as documents of cabinets which have decayed or been dispersed.
The Spice Map,
by Petrus Plancius,
1617
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom, Return to Amsterdam of the 2nd expedition to the East Indies, 1599
The painting by Vroom commemorates the successful mission of a Dutch fleet to acquire spices. The eight ships in the fleet returned with one million pounds of pepper and cloves, as well as half a ship of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon.
In the 17th century, the Dutch ruled the seas. They were leaders in marine travel and commerce. Their warships, cargo carriers, and battleships crossed the oceans. Goods were dispersed by smaller boats through their canal system. Fishing boats filled the inland and coastal waterways.
Water had much to do with their wealth and power and the genre of ship painting emerged as a result.
Albert Cuyp, the Maas at Dordrecht, 1650
At the end of the 16th century, several European countries fought the Portuguese for dominance in the spice trade of the East Indies. The work of a cartographer and a spy made it possible for the Dutch to compete and led to the foundation of the Dutch East India Company, which led to an economic boom in the low countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
Two individuals were especially crucial to the formation of the Dutch East India Company and the bounty that followed.
Cartographer Petrus Plancius fled religious persecution under the Spanish occupation of Belgium and went to Amsterdam, where he became interested in navigation and cartography. He gained covert access to navigational charts brought from Portugal and used these to create nautical maps of the Philippines and Spice Islands. Despite its errors and incomplete details, his map was very helpful to Dutch sailors and he went on to create dozens of maps for the Dutch East India Co.
The map was published to promote the commercial potential of Dutch voyages to the Spice Islands and was included in the book by Jan Huygen von Linschoten.
arms of the Dutch East India Company and town of Batavia
by Jeronimus Becx, 1651, oil on panel
The shield features Neptune, the god of the sea, a mermaid, an array of prized seashells, and navigational tools above a painting of a company ship.
The inscription on the shield of Batavia explains that the city of Jakarta was conquered on May 30th, 1619, and then renamed Batavia by the Governor-General Jan Pietersz Coen, who built a castle with warehouses, offices, and dockyards.
The founding of the Dutch East Company had an enormous impact on the economy and culture of the Netherlands. The wealth accumulated in the colonies is reflected in the architecture of Amsterdam and the bounty of luxury goods and naturalia are documented in the still life paintings of the era.
The Pieter Boel painting of the gold platter and globe contains a highly unusual element of the surreal. Note the small dog in the bottom left hand corner who is interacting with the bird. In an era that so highly favored naturalism, it's unusual to see a change of scale like this.
Carstian Luyckx (1623–after 1657), Allegory of Charles I of England and Henrietta of France in a Vanitas Still Life
Pieter Boel (–1674), Still Life with a Globe and a Parrot (c 1658)
for further reading on the Dutch Golden Age
Vanitas, by Franciscus Gysbrechts (1649- c.1677)
The vanitas genre emphasized death and decay and the folly of earthly attachments. Symbols of the fleeting nature of life included skulls, burning candles, and hour glasses. During the 15th century, these still lifes were painted on the backs of portraits to reiterate the message, but with the rising popularity of still-life painting, they emerged as an independent genre.
Over time, the subject matter expanded to include the luxury goods that were widely available. Painters took advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate skills in capturing the various textures and patterns of brocades, furs, metals and more. They used the motifs of vanitas to justify painting the sumptuous wares.
1707: Aa, Pieter van der, 1659–1733. “De Moluccos, of Speceri-dragende eilanden tussen Gilolo en Celebes gelegen.”
Map of the Banda Islands, 1599
for further reading: 400th anniversary of the Banda Massacre Part II: The role of Jan Pieterszoon Coen and the VOC
The spice trade was an extremely important part of global trade.
Some spices could be sold in Europe for as much as 300 times the purchase price.
In the early 17th century, nutmeg and mace grew only on the Banda Islands and were an important part of the their economy. In 1609, the VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), or Dutch East India Company, sent Admiral Pieter Verhoeff with 14 ships and a thousand soldiers to the island to establish the Dutch monopoly by "treaty or force." He announced his intentions to build a fort on the island of Neira with or without their permission. Unwilling to be forced into this agreement, a group of village elders ambushed the Admiral and his council and murdered dozens of them.
The Dutch were now intent upon revenge and establishing control of the spice production, and conducted multiple punitive incursions in the Banda Islands.
Jan Coen, a junior merchant aboard one of Verhoeff's ships, witnessed the event. He was appointed governor general in 1618 and aimed to subjugate the Bandanese once and for all. He returned in 1621 with a thirteen ships, sixteen hundred soldiers, and a hundred Japanese mercenaries. They murdered around 2,800 Bandanese, enslaved around 1,700, and exiled the remaining 1,000 or so to Batavia.
Portrait of Dirke Wilre by Pieter de Wit, 1669
Museo Cartaceo by Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657)
The largest collection of images was created by Roman brothers Cassiano and Carlo Anonio dal Pozzo. Their catalog, called the Museu Cartacao (Museum on Paper) aspired to compile all available human knowledge in visual form and included between 7,000-10,000 watercolors, drawings, and prints. It documented specimens of botany, geology, ornithology, and zoology; images of costumes, religious ceremonies, architecture, antiquities, maps, portraits, and more.
The shackles pictured above were said to have belonged to an Early Christian martyr. We also see here a “fingered lemon” from Asia, and an apple with a human face, which most likely was an actual specimen with somewhat human-like features exaggerated by the artist.
The illustrations are arranged by subject. The Cassianos tried to identify each item, describe the circumstances surrounding the making of the drawing, and provide references to documentation. The brothers created some of the drawings and purchased prints, which were widely available. The catalog demonstrates the evolution of scientific inquiry in 17th century Europe.
Rhino woodcut by Albrecht Durer, 1515
Durer’s woodcut of a rhino is an emblem of the early 16th century, and a departure from his other depictions of nature, as he was usually committed to strict observation and accurate representation.
He never saw the rhino himself. His engraving is a conflation of descriptions from multiple sources.
A contemporary of Durer's saw a living rhino in Lisbon that was given to King Emanuel and sent a rough sketch and a description to the artist. Durer also referred to an excerpt written by Pliny the Elder that described a mammal with the “feet of an elephant and tail of a boar,” and a description of a different species from Africa written by the ancient Roman writer Martial, that included a second horn.
Durer’s print confirmed what Europeans had read in ancient descriptions, and so accepted his image as realistic, even though it conflicted with some contemporary accounts from first hand observation. The print also fed the European appetite for images of exotic animals, and he sold around 5,000 prints. It served as the model for rhino illustrations in natural history encyclopedias for another 200 years. It inspired imitations in relief sculptures, tapestries, and paintings, and became a popular symbol for strength and fortitude.
Conrad Gessner, after Durer
Michael Bernhard Valentini, c. 1714
David Kandel, 1550
Allegorical Portrait of Rudolf II, Aegidius II Sadeler, 1603
Rudolph II held many royal positions in the Habsburg dynasty, including service as the Holy Roman Emperor between 1576-1612, a position that he took at the age of 23. He was far more interested in nature, art, alchemy, and astrology than he was in governing. Many believe he is responsible for initiating the scientific revolution of the era because of his extraordinary patronage.
His rise to power coincided with the intensifying conflict between the northern Protestants and southern Catholics in Europe and he chose to remain neutral, hiring artists from all regions and housing them in elaborate and well-equipped studios within the palace complex.
He was fascinated with alchemy and astrology and financed the research of astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler and spent a fortune on improving their instruments. His immense cabinet and his support of the arts and sciences made his palace the center of learning. Many credit him with initiating the scientific revolution of the era because of his extraordinary patronage.
He had the largest collection of “naturalia,” “artificialia” (man-made goods), and “scientifica” (tools) in all of Europe in his lifetime.
He had the largest collection of “naturalia,” “artificialia” (man-made goods), and “scientifica” (tools) in all of Europe in his lifetime. The collection represented more than a quest to understand nature, it also reflected the beauty and diversity of the world and of human capabilities. He commissioned around 3,000 paintings, scores of decorative objects, tools, musical instruments, clocks, waterworks, and automata, all made by the best craftsmen in Europe.
In addition to the more common items, his collection included fish, mummies, wild cats, wolves, bears, and other animals. A lion and tiger roamed the castle freely. Account books record the sums paid to survivors of the attacks and to the victims’ families. He built parks with artificial lakes, islands, and bridges in Prague. He stocked the lakes with fish and populated the terrain with rare species of elk and aurochs.
He also had a heated aviary with an extraordinary collection of exotic birds and greenhouses dedicated to growing oranges and figs. Gardens on the palace grounds included medicinal herbs, mazes, space for alchemical experiments, and phrases spelled out in plants and flowers.
His collection was open to visiting dignitaries and functioned as the space where negotiations were held. An invitation to view the cabinet was a sign of political favor. His court painters had access to all of it and were able to paint rare specimens, both living and dead, from observation. We’ll look at the work of several of the artists whose work he collected or commissioned, including Arcimboldo, Durer, Breughel, Joris Hoefnagel, and Roelandt Savery .
His collection was raided during the 30 Years War and what remained of it has been sold off.
Fire and Water from the Four Elements series
by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1566
Arcimboldo (1527- 1593) was a court painter to several of the Habsbourg dynasty, but is most closely associated with Rudolf II. In addition to painting, he was responsible for expanding Rudolf’s collection. Arcimboldo was also a skilled inventor and engineer and made musical instruments. He also organized elaborate court festivals and designed the sets and costumes they required.
These extravagant events would last for days and included spectacles like live elephants; horses disguised as dragons, bulls, or other creatures; a carriage pulled by peacocks; the royal family costumed as Greek gods; or elaborate sets and landscapes constructed to hold jousting tournaments. They also included elaborate food sculptures that imitated his paintings. The themes of these events were usually mythological or astrological and were often intended to assert the majesty and power of the House of Habsburgs over their subjects.
Rudolf II as Autumnus,
Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1590
Many of Arcimboldo’s paintings were accompanied by a poem or description by the writer Giovanni Fonteo, which clarifies the painter’s intentions.
The painting of Rudolf as Vertumnus was inspired by a Latin poem by Propertius who described Vertumnus as a “god of permanence through change,” and Arcimboldo illustrates this concept with fruits and flowers of the four seasons used as metaphor for the continuous rule of the Habsburgs.
Arcimboldo, the four seasons
According to Fonteo, The Elements series represented Maximillian (Rudolph’s father) as lord and master of the elements and seasons, as his benevolent rule allowed them to live in peace and harmony.
Air and Earth from the Four Elements series, Arcimboldo, 1566
Four Elements
Paintings commissioned by royalty were intended to symbolize the power, glory, and harmony of the dynasty or empire, as demonstrated in this series, which includes references to the heraldic symbols of the Austro-Hungarian empire, like the lion, peacock, and eagle.
Arcimboldo’s composite portraits were sometimes dismissed by his contemporaries as merely clever, but later viewers saw them as an investigation into connections between the macro and microcosms of nature. They reflect Aristotle’s theory of the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) as the basis of all life forms and the Greek belief that the earth and everything it contained was created by a divine combination of these elements.
For example:
summer is a combination of hot and dry, like fire;
winter= cold and wet, like water
Spring= hot and wet, like air
Autumn= cold and dry, like earth.
Joris Hoefnagel, 1542-1601
Joris Hoefnagel (1542- 1601)
Hoefnagel was the extraordinary illuminator who we discussed in the botany section because of his influence on Dutch still life and botanical painters.
He was born into a wealthy merchant family in Antwerp during the period of social, political, and religious upheaval following the Reformation movement in northern Europe and preceding the founding of the Dutch republic.
He was a self-taught painter who also wrote poetry in Latin, spoke several languages fluently, and played a number of instruments. He worked in multiple genres, including miniatures, landscapes, mythology and allegory, and was especially renowned for his emblems, grotesques, and topographical drawings. We will discuss him again in the entomology section.
He was hired as a court artist to Albert V, duke of Bavaria in 1577, but was fired twenty years later for refusing to sign a pledge of loyalty to the Catholic church. While employed by Albert, he managed to complete a four volume book of miniatures based on the four elements.
Hoefnagel is renowned for the illuminations he painted for The Model Book of Calligraphy by master George Bocksay. The book was commissioned by Rudolf's father, Emperor Maximillian the II, with illustrations commissioned by Rudolf fifteen years after Bocksay's death.
Rudolf II became familiar with his work, hired him as a court painter, and provided refuge from religious persecution. The opportunity also gave Hoefnagel the opportunity to paint exotic specimens from observation.
Unfortunately, like his contemporaries, Hoefnagel failed to see the humanity of Pedro Gonzales and his children and painted them as specimens.
anonymous artist, Portrait of Petrus Gonsalvus (aka Pedro Gonzalez), 1580
portrait of Antonietta Gonzales by Lavinia Fontana, 1595
Natural philosophers of the era rarely considered the humanity of people with unusual physical conditions. They were sometimes included in natural history books, grouped with mythological beings or under the heading of “monsters,” a word derived from the Latin monstrum, meaning divine omen. This category also included (at times) pregnant women.
The image above and to the left are portraits of Pedro Gonzalez. He was assigned the Latinized of Petrus Gonsalvus because he was treated as a specimen rather than a human. Gonzalez had a condition called hypertrichosis, which causes excessive hair growth all over the body. He was kidnapped at the age of 10 from his home in Tenerife and sent as a gift from Margaret of Parma (a regent of the Netherlands) to Henry II, the King of France. (in 1547). He was assumed to have some qualities of a wild animal and was watched over by the court doctors, who waited for his "savage" behavior to emerge. However, he was intelligent and learned to read and write fluently in three languages. Unfortunately, he was never treated as an equal because of his appearance.
His children also had the condition and suffered the same treatment. They were sent to various courts in the Netherlands and Italy. Though they lived as nobility, they were viewed by their contemporaries as objects of curiosity and not fully human.
Las Meninas, by Diego Velazquez, 1565
The desire to find unique examples of creation had terrible consequences for some people. Humans with rare conditions, particularly people with dwarfism, were often seen as pathologies, not individuals, and kept as part of a collection of the royal courts. They were bought, sold, and traded among royal families throughout Europe, especially in Italy and Spain. They were used as pawns in the competition of royal families engaged in demonstrating power and superiority.
They played ceremonial roles in courts, often positioned beside the king to enhance his height and power. They were also frequently put in charge of caring for the animals of the court.
People with dwarfism were considered demonstrations of god’s wrath or as omens by their 16th century European Christian contemporaries. They inspired a mixture of admiration and fear in an audience who were asking questions about god and nature. Though they had access to the social, intellectual, and educational advantages of being members of the court, they were also forced to perform as jesters. They often served as diplomats, delivering messages or gifts from one court to another, and were often used as gifts themselves.
There is evidence of exploiting people with dwarfism in ancient Roman mosaics and writings that document performances of mythological narratives or sporting events, and in ancient China. In ancient Egypt, people with dwarfism were often part of the royal court, though treated with far more respect, as they had sacred associations with the Egyptian dwarf gods, Ptah and Bes. Ptah is associated with rejuvenation and regeneration, and Bes is the protector of sexuality, childbirth, women, and children.
engravings by Cornelius Huyberts (1669-ca.1712) of dioramas by Frederic and Rachel Ruysch, 17th century
Frederic Ruysch (1638-1731)
Ruysch was a Dutch anatomist, botanist, and obstetrician of the surgeon’s guild for 60 years and father of the famous flower painter, Rachel Ruysch. He introduced new embalming and preservation techniques and wrote extensively on pathology and surgery.
His identified several diseases and disorders; demonstrated the role of placenta in childbirthand; discovered the function of valves in the lymphatic system and the central artery of the eye; and described the circulatory system of the cortex.
Ruysch collected specimens, often arranging them in dioramas that reflected the contemporary interest in a genre of still-life painting called vanitas. His arrangements included human bones and hardened arteries and items called natura artificiosa, nature that had been altered for aesthetic purposes, like corals made from wax-filled arteries or polished gallstones. While these were considered macabre by some of his contemporaries, Ruysch believed the presenting the material this way would help the viewer overcome distaste for the subject matter. He also believed that they highlighted the complexity and delicacy of the organisms.
Ruysch wrote, in Latin and Dutch, a description of his collection, which was illustrated by Cornelius Huyberts and published in 1710 with the title Thesaurus animalium .
Peter the Great purchased the collection shortly before Ruysch’s death
flower painting by Rachel Ruysch, daughter of surgeon Frederic Ruysch, circa. 1705
His daughter Rachel, a highly skilled painter who enjoyed great success, made the lace and decorative arrangements made of shells, artificial flowers and beads, used on the lids of the specimens preserved in jars. She was one of the few woman of the 17th century permitted to paint professionally and able to make a living at it.
Butterlies and beetles, detail, from Levinus Vincent, Elenchus, 1719
Levinus Vincent (1658- 1727)
Levinus Vincent’s collection is notable for his most unusual and personal way of displaying it.
He was a wealthy Dutch textile merchant and member of the painters guild who collected shells, corals, birds, insects, lizards, and small mammals, as well as botanical and ethnographic prints.
Inspired by the patterns of the textiles that they designed and sold, he and his wife arranged insects, shells, and other natural objects in decorative and symmetrical curls and loops based on size and color that imitated textile embroidery.
This was very different from other collectors’ attempts to put their specimens in some sort of rational order.
Levinius explained that his goal was to strengthen the religious faith of his visitors by highlighting the magnificence of nature. The couple hoped to present nature in a “harmonious and balanced ” state, which they believed had been lost after the fall of Adam and Eve.
He published a catalog of his collection with the title Wondertooneel der Nature (Theatre of the Marvels of Nature) in 1705
The insects in the cases were displayed in three distinct ways. The top tier held three columns of drawers with specimens arranged according to the classification systems of the naturalist.
In the lower half, they are arranged to highlight contrasts in form and patterns. On the ground, they are arranged to imitate nature. At the time, nature was considered boundless and disordered and most believed that humans could create better order than nature.
Insects contract their legs and wings as they die, so they had to be soaked in water and gently pulled into position. Then they would have to be treated with lavender oil every few months to delay deterioration.
Frontispiece for Levinus Vincent's Wondertooneel der Nature (Theatre of the Marvels of Nature),
pub. 1705
Frontispiece from the catalog
The figures in the foreground hold symbolic items representing exploration (globe), spade (for collecting plants), caduceus (symbol of medicine).
The figure on the far left represents an explorer and holds a net for collecting insects. The zodiac around his shoulders implies an inquisitive mind. The figure next to him represents Nature- depicted as the goddess Isis, recognizable by her multiple breasts, with the crown of a city wall on her head and arm resting on a globe. The explorer peers under her garment, as if to investigate what Nature has to offer.
The figure wearing a shell on his head is a Seafarer. He rests his arm on jars containing aquatic animals and represents the ability of the Dutch to take exquisite objects from the East and West.
The reclining figure on the right represents the Collector, indicated by the pen and letter which she uses to share her observations with her peers. The caduceus is the symbol of medicine, which was largely plant based at the time.
Figures in the central sculpture include a woman holding a beehive- drawing parallels between her work of arranging the collection with the orderly work of the bees. She is flanked by two putti- symbols of Pattern, indicated by the compass and set square who will arrange the ground plans for the displays, and Adornment, represented by the peacock’s tail (which looks like a paddle) and a drawing
Albertus Seba (1665-1736)
Seba was a Dutch pharmacist, zoologist, and collector. He had contacts in Virginia, Greenland, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia that helped him acquire plants and animals used in medicine and also specimens.
His was one of the largest collections of its time and attracted visitors from across Europe.
He delivered drugs to the Russian court in 1711, and was paid partly in fresh ginger. He promoted his collection through the head physician to Peter the Great and, having established this relationship, was able to sell his collection and that of Frederik Ruysch- a well known anatomist and surgeon.
Seba amassed his collection over decades and commissioned multiple artists to illustrate specimens from his collection. His portrait shows the process of developing the book- from the jar in his hand and shells on the table, to the color studies on loose paper, to the final printed product.
Seba established a reputable apothecary's shop in Amsterdam. He bought drugs from overseas and actively sought out new customers through newspaper advertisements. He also supplied departing ships with medicine and went to the docks to treat returning sailors, which gave him access and bargaining power to gather new specimens.
Anonymous illustration's from Seba's catalog. Note that the decorative compositions emphasize beauty over realism and that the arrangement of shells are inspired by Levinus Vincent. Seba's catalog includes many anomolies of nature. His Thesuarus emphasizes curiosity and beauty.
After the sale, he amassed an even larger collection that specialized in reptiles, insects, and marine life, and eventually sold this collection, too.
Methods of preserving specimens were closely guarded secrets, but Seba developed a method of accelerating the rotting process of leaves to isolate their skeletons and published an article on it. Creating “herbaria,” or books of pressed plants, was a popular pastime and considered an important learning tool.
His work on taxonomy influenced Linnaeus, who used a number of specimens in his collection as the holotype for his taxonomic system. A holotype is the single physical example which serves as the basis for comparison of all others and is therefore the standard example.
Seba joined forces with two publishers to share the expense of such an enormous project. His book, “Accurate description of the very rich thesaurus of the principal and rarest natural objects” is a four volume series that includes close to 450 engravings.
He claimed in the intro to his “thesaurus” that the illustrations were based on his collection, but includes imaginary beings such as a 7 headed creature. He also included specimens copied from other resources, which was common practice in natural history compendiums.
He wrote the descriptions for the first two volumes, but had help from other naturalists in identifying and describing species in the last two volumes. Frederik Ruysch identified the snakes, and Peter Artedi described the fish. The focus is on external appearance with very little information on internal anatomy.
Following the lead of Maria Merian, the animals in the first volume are often composed into scenes, decorative motifs, or vignettes, rather than against a plain background. There were common discrepancies in the scale of the objects to each other, for which he was criticized.
The catalog was not completed until after his death and his family had to sell of his collection to cover the printing expenses.
In the last three volumes, the specimens are depicted in a more conventional manner, with no interaction between them. However, they are often arranged symmetrically or in a decorative pattern.
As is the case with most natural history books of this kind, many artists and illustrators created the templates for the printers or engravers, but did not receive credit, and so remain anonymous.
The skinning of the Aboma Snake, shot by Cap. Stedman
hand-colored engraving by William Blake
James Petiver established a research center based on his vast collection of naturalia. Petiver was a 17th century botanist and entymologist who trained as an apothecary. His connections in the slave trade were essential to growing the largest collection of naturalia in his lifetime. Petiver ran a network of ship captains and surgeons who gathered plant and animal specimens for him on their voyages abroad. Between a quarter and a third of the collectors he worked with were involved in the slave trade.
When he died, another naturalist with ties to the slave trade acquired his collection. That was the famous John Sloane, who married into a slaving family and collected specimens on plantations in Jamaica. Both men were members of scientific academy called the Royal Society of London, which invested in slaving companies. The merged collections of Petiver and Sloane went to the British government and form the basis of their Natural History Museum. By the late 17th century, many of these collections became open to the public.
The collections of specimens were and are crucial to advancements in phylogeny (evolutionary history of a group of organisms) and taxonomy and only in recent decades have historians tried to unearth the true stories of their procurement.
Research into the origins of specimens could also benefit science by explaining geographic distribution. For example, African plants would have been collected along parts of the coast near slaving ports, not from the interior. As the connection between slavery and science becomes more apparent, scholars are increasingly interested in the scant available records of collecting.
For further reading on James Petiver and the connection between slavery and collections, go here
left: William Blake's illustration for John Gabriel Stedman. Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. go here
SLOAN AND BANKS
Fascinating article about teacups and the abolitionist movement here
In England and the Netherlands in the early 1800s, the sentiments of the abolitionist movement were expressed in a surprising medium-- ceramics. Josiah Wedgewood took a growing interest in the effort and developed a series art objects, like medallions, snuff boxes , pitchers, and tea cups, that bore anti-slavery messages.
Dutch porcelain manufacturers took inspiration from his images and produced their own pieces. Women's abolitionist groups often raised money for the enslaved through the sale of needlework, jewelry, and tea sets. This type of activity provided women with a means of making themselves heard before they had the right to vote.
The English abolished slavery in 1833, but the Dutch waited until 1863.
ADDITIONAL PLEASURE READING :
Academia Secretorum Naturae (“Accademia dei Segreti”)
pleasure reading on della Porta's writings on natural magic here
The Cantino Planisphere, ink and pigment on vellum, anonymous, 1502
HERE is an important article on the subjectivity of maps. As Dr. Zimmerman explains, the maker must determine what to include and what to omit from the map, and so they are not an objective presentation of information. This map reveals not the size or terrain of the countries depicted, but the resources they contain and how to reach them.
Dr. Rachel Zimmerman is Assistant Professor of Art History at Colorado State University-Pueblo. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Delaware