DOCSLIB.ORG

Insects in Seventeenth-Century European Art and Science

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Insects in Seventeenth-Century European Art and Science TfK 3-2008 ombrukket3.qxd:TfK 1-2-2007 07-10-08 12:29 Side 5 Nature’s Bible: Insects in Seventeenth-Century European Art and Science Brian W. Ogilvie History Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst [email protected] Abstract Keywords: Artists and naturalists in seventeenth-century Europe avidly pursued the study of insects. Natural history, Since entomology had not yet become a distinct discipline, these studies were pursued art, within the framework of natural history, miniature painting, medicine, and anatomy. In science, the late sixteenth century the Renaissance naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi collected and insects, described individual insects and their lore but showed little sustained interest in their tem- entomology poral transmutations; meanwhile, the court artist Joris Hoefnagel studied the structure of insects in order to paint real and imaginary insects while giving them an emblematic inter- pretation. By the middle of the seventeenth century the painter Johannes Goedaert was assiduously studying insect transformations, which he saw as evidence of God’s wondrous works. His work was critiqued and systematized by the physicians Martin Lister and Jan Swammerdam, who insisted that orderly transformation was the best sign of God’s hand- iwork. These examples show how verbal descriptions and illustrations of insects easily crossed disciplinary boundaries; knowledge generated in one particular context moved into others where it was critiqued but also employed in new investigations. The Bible of Nature; or, The History of Insects appropriate for the study of insects in the Brought into Certain Classes, is the strange seventeenth century. Characterized by title that Jan Swammerdam (d. 1680) gave scholarly erudition, painstaking observa- to his posthumously published magnum tion, and artistic flair, the study of insects opus (Swammerdam 1737-38). The reveals, in miniature, many cultural and strangeness lies in the contrast between the intellectual interests of the century and subtitle’s sober promise of order and the how knowledge circulated between distinct expansive, if not temerarious, claims of the yet permeable contexts. As we shall see, it title. But Swammerdam’s title is strangely also made eminent sense to Swammerdam; Tidsskrift for kulturforskning. Volum 7, nr. 3 • 2008, s. 5-21 5 TfK 3-2008 ombrukket3.qxd:TfK 1-2-2007 07-10-08 12:29 Side 6 it expressed his sense of the relationship and vanity paintings (Vignau-Wilberg between rational order and divine creation. 1994; Albus 2000). In the second half of Like natural history in general, the the century, the artists Johannes Goedaert study of insects was avidly pursued in the and Maria Sibylla Merian consciously set late Renaissance and after. The first out to use their artistic and observational European natural history of insects, Ulisse talents to serve “investigators of nature,” Aldrovandi’s 1602 De animalibus insectis, denying any fundamental distinction was the fruit of a lifetime of collecting between naturalists and artists. insects and insect-lore. Other sixteenth- It would be misleading to call these century naturalists had collected material studies “entomology.” That word was on insects – for instance, Edward Wotton, coined in 1745 by Charles Bonnet – who Conrad Gessner, and Thomas Penny, rejected it, as too cacophonous – in his whose notes were organized for publication Traité d’insectologie (his preferred term). It by Thomas Moffett and finally published entered English in 1766 (TLF; OED). A by Theodore de Mayerne (Moffett 1634). discipline may exist before it is named, but But compared with the flood of the act of naming is often a mark of self- Renaissance works on plants, quadrupeds, recognition by its practitioners that some- birds, and fishes, insects were little studied thing new has come into being (see Kelley (Pinon 1995; Ogilvie 2006). Over the 1997). Histories of entomology have been course of the seventeenth century, more written that start in ancient Mesopotamia, and more scholars turned to the study of but they should really be considered histo- insects. Though their numbers remained ries of the study of insects – that is, of a sci- small when compared with eighteenth-cen- entific object – rather than histories of a tury entomologists, they included major discipline (e.g. Bodenheimer 1928, Essig figures: for example, Marcello Malpighi, 1936). By using the anachronistic term Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Robert Hooke, entomology, they distract the historian’s John Ray, and Swammerdam. The newly attention from the processes that led to the invented microscope offered enhanced pos- formation of a new discipline (cf. Rossi sibilities of observation, and insects could 1984:vii). (Of course, “science” is itself a cast new light on problems in anatomy and problematic term, especially before 1800: generation (Bodenheimer 1928:vol. 1:325- see Pickstone 2007.) 407; Wilson 1995; Ruestow 1996; In this essay I offer a series of observa- Freedberg 2002; Cobb 2006). tions on how and why insects were studied Artists, and miniaturists in particular, before entomology, from the late sixteenth had long included insects among decora- to the late seventeenth century. I offer an tive motifs. But toward the end of the six- essay, not a systematic overview of insect teenth century, the so-called Dürer Revival studies; as a result, I must omit a discussion generated new interest in a meticulous of many artists and scholars who would be depiction of plants, animals, insects, and considered in a longer study – for instance, other natural objects (Koreny 1988; Neri the Melissographia and other works of the 2003:23). Georg Hoefnagel stunned the Accademia dei Lincei or the later seven- court of Rudolf II with his delicate insect teenth-century works of Marcello Malpighi replicas and fantasies, and insects came to or Francesco Redi. My focus will be on the be familiar parts of Netherlandish still life different contexts in which insects were 6 Brian Ogilvie TfK 3-2008 ombrukket3.qxd:TfK 1-2-2007 07-10-08 12:29 Side 7 studied and how knowledge changed as it moved from one context to another. In its attention to the role of insect illustrations, this essay is in part a contribution to what Monika Dommann, following W.J.T. Mitchell, has called a “pictorial turn” in the history of science (Dommann 2004). At the same time, I explores the shifting rela- tionship between natural knowledge of insects, moral lessons to be drawn from them, and secular theology (on secular the- ology see Funkenstein 1986). In joining these themes, insects are for the historian truly wondrous. Ulisse Aldrovandi: the encyclopedic observer The hallmark of Renaissance natural histo- ry was the careful description of the natural world. Ulisse Aldrovandi’s De animalibus insectis libri VII, one of the handful of works that Aldrovandi actually published toward the end of his long life as a natural- ist and collector, reveals the descriptive impulse at work. At the same time, it reveals how, for Aldrovandi, description was only part of the naturalist’s work; the history of insects embraced their meaning, not simply their objective nature. collection and Aldrovandi’s indefatigable Figure 1. Insects were a particular problem for reading provided the basis for De insectis In his woodcut illustrations, naturalists because they were small and (on Aldrovandi’s collection see Findlen Ulisse Aldrovandi presented practically innumerable. But Aldrovandi 1994:30). each major phase of the butter- was not daunted. Accompanied by an Despite the weight of erudition in his fly’s life cycle synchronically, as amanuensis and a painter, he prowled the work, Aldrovandi was an acute observer if he had laid out specimens in “suburbs” of Bologna, interrogating peas- (Bodenheimer 1928:vol. 1:247-276). And a cabinet. Source: Ulisse ants, having them bring him insects, flying he had a lot of description to do: his Aldrovandi, De animalibus creatures, and reptiles, and studying them. ancient and medieval predecessors had insectis (1602), courtesy of the The painter illustrated anything worthy of largely neglected to describe insects. For Entomology, Fisheries & being painted, while the amanuensis noted instance, “although there are many kinds of Wildlife Library, University of down what Aldrovandi considered impor- butterflies, I have found none described by Minnesota; photo by the tant; in this way “I was able to assemble a the ancients” (Aldrovandi 1602:236). To author. diverse collection (variam supellectilem) of remedy this lack, Aldrovandi used words insects” (Aldrovandi 1602:sig. †3r). This and pictures. His chapters on butterflies Nature’s Bible: Insects in Seventeenth-Century European Art and Science 7 TfK 3-2008 ombrukket3.qxd:TfK 1-2-2007 07-10-08 12:29 Side 8 (including moths) involved eleven full-page ence signified not only present beauty but woodcuts, each containing several different also, with the next generation of caterpil- species. They were accompanied by mor- lars, future devastation. Aldrovandi occa- phological descriptions and occasionally by sionally noted which butterflies develop notes on their generation or behavior, from which insects: for instance, “When I though most of that information came later had nourished the first caterpillar of the under more general headings like generatio first table for some time in my house, it did and mores. Aldrovandi placed great value not weave a web or sack, but rather formed on illustrations as a source of knowledge. a chrysalis which gave birth to a darkish Illustrations showed naturalists distant yellow butterfly, namely the third in the species; they allowed for communication first table.” But he did not do so systemat- with contemporaries and posterity in a way ically, though he followed Aristotle in not- that was much more precise than words ing that butterflies tend to have the same alone. In a rather naive fashion, Aldrovandi color as the caterpillars from which they conceived of the artist’s task as imitating develop (267). nature, a conception that, as Giuseppe Aldrovandi divided imagines from lar- Olmi has underscored, made the artist a vae for several reasons.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Maria Sibylla Merian and Metamorphosis
    PUBLISHED: 21 FEBRUARY 2017 | VOLUME: 1 | ARTICLE NUMBER: 0074 books & arts Maria Sibylla Merian and metamorphosis ANNIVERSARY Despite the fact that art is subjective and concerned with aesthetics, whereas science is an objective enterprise based on observation and experimentation, a combination of these dissimilar activities can yield surprising results. A small group of world-class biologists have also been gi"ed artists. #is group includes the German botanist Julius Sachs, founder of experimental plant physiology 1; the zoologist Ernst Haeckel; and, perhaps less known, the entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian (Fig. 1), the tricentenary of whose death falls this year. Merian made signi%cant contributions to the foundation of developmental biology and ecology, but has been neglected. Born in 1647 in Frankfurt (Main), Germany, Merian Figure 2 | Merian’s paintings. Left, watercolour image on the title page of Merian’s first scientific book developed her skill painting insects and Der Raupen Wunderbare Verwandelung und Sonderbare Blumen-nahrung (The Wonderful Metamorphosis plants under the guidance of her stepfather, of Caterpillars and Strange Flower Nourishment). Merian described the complete life cycles of numerous the artist Jacob Marrel. At the age of 13, she insect species, including their destructive feeding behaviour on host plants, and rejected the then was already an accomplished painter, with popular idea of an origin of insects via ‘spontaneous generation’. Image courtesy of U. Kutschera. Right, an overwhelming drive to study nature. Merian’s realistic documentation of the “struggle for existence” in a natural world that was, in her view, Merian started to collect insects and plants God’s creation.
    [Show full text]
  • Maria Sibylla Merian's Research Journey to Suriname
    Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Resources Supplementary Information August 2017 To See for Herself: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Research Journey to Suriname: 1699-1701 Catherine Grimm Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sophsupp_resources Part of the German Literature Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Grimm, Catherine, "To See for Herself: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Research Journey to Suriname: 1699-1701" (2017). Resources. 6. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sophsupp_resources/6 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Supplementary Information at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Resources by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. To See for Herself: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Research Journey to Suriname: 1699-1701 By Catherine Grimm Maria Sibylla Merian was born on April, 2 1647 in Frankfurt am Main, one year before the signing of the Peace treaties of Westphalia and the end of the Thirty Years War. Her 55 year old father, the famous artist, engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian, died when she was three. About a year after his death, Maria’s mother, Johanna Sibylla, remarried the painter and art- dealer Jacob Marrel whose family had moved to Frankfurt from the town of Frankenthal when he was 10, and who also had lived for a number of years in Utrecht, before returning to Frankfurt in 1651. He had been a student of the well-known still life artist Geog Flegel as well as the Dutch painter Jan Davidzs de Heem.1 From an early age, Merian appears to have been surprisingly adept at pursuing her own interests, without arousing the disapproval of her immediate social environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Invented Herbal Tradition.Pdf
    Journal of Ethnopharmacology 247 (2020) 112254 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Inventing a herbal tradition: The complex roots of the current popularity of T Epilobium angustifolium in Eastern Europe Renata Sõukanda, Giulia Mattaliaa, Valeria Kolosovaa,b, Nataliya Stryametsa, Julia Prakofjewaa, Olga Belichenkoa, Natalia Kuznetsovaa,b, Sabrina Minuzzia, Liisi Keedusc, Baiba Prūsed, ∗ Andra Simanovad, Aleksandra Ippolitovae, Raivo Kallef,g, a Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Via Torino 155, 30172, Mestre, Venice, Italy b Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tuchkov pereulok 9, 199004, St Petersburg, Russia c Tallinn University, Narva rd 25, 10120, Tallinn, Estonia d Institute for Environmental Solutions, "Lidlauks”, Priekuļu parish, LV-4126, Priekuļu county, Latvia e A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 25a Povarskaya st, 121069, Moscow, Russia f Kuldvillane OÜ, Umbusi village, Põltsamaa parish, Jõgeva county, 48026, Estonia g University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042, Pollenzo, Bra, Cn, Italy ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Ethnopharmacological relevance: Currently various scientific and popular sources provide a wide spectrum of Epilobium angustifolium ethnopharmacological information on many plants, yet the sources of that information, as well as the in- Ancient herbals formation itself, are often not clear, potentially resulting in the erroneous use of plants among lay people or even Eastern Europe in official medicine. Our field studies in seven countries on the Eastern edge of Europe have revealed anunusual source interpretation increase in the medicinal use of Epilobium angustifolium L., especially in Estonia, where the majority of uses were Ethnopharmacology specifically related to “men's problems”.
    [Show full text]
  • HUNTIA a Journal of Botanical History
    HUNTIA A Journal of Botanical History VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 2018 Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, a research division of Carnegie Mellon University, specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science and serves the international scientific community through research and documentation. To this end, the Institute acquires and maintains authoritative collections of books, plant images, manuscripts, portraits and data files, and provides publications and other modes of information service. The Institute meets the reference needs of botanists, biologists, historians, conservationists, librarians, bibliographers and the public at large, especially those concerned with any aspect of the North American flora. Huntia publishes articles on all aspects of the history of botany, including exploration, art, literature, biography, iconography and bibliography. The journal is published irregularly in one or more numbers per volume of approximately 200 pages by the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. External contributions to Huntia are welcomed. Page charges have been eliminated. All manuscripts are subject to external peer review. Before submitting manuscripts for consideration, please review the “Guidelines for Contributors” on our Web site. Direct editorial correspondence to the Editor. Send books for announcement or review to the Book Reviews and Announcements Editor. All issues are available as PDFs on our Web site. Hunt Institute Associates may elect to receive Huntia as a benefit of membership; contact the Institute for more information. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation Carnegie Mellon University 5th Floor, Hunt Library 4909 Frew Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 Telephone: 412-268-2434 Email: [email protected] Web site: http://www.huntbotanical.org Editor and layout Scarlett T.
    [Show full text]
  • The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge
    Biology Faculty Publications Biology 2016 The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge Kay Etheridge Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/biofac Part of the Biology Commons, and the Illustration Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Recommended Citation Etheridge, K. "The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian’s Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge." Global Scientific Practice in the Age of Revolutions, 1750 – 1850. P. Manning and D. Rood, eds. (Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press. 2016). 54-70. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/biofac/54 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The Cupola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The History and Influence of Maria Sibylla Merian's Bird-Eating Tarantula: Circulating Images and the Production of Natural Knowledge Abstract Chapter Summary: A 2009 exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum on the confluence of science and the visual arts included a plate from a nineteenth-century encyclopedia owned by Charles Darwin showing a tarantula poised over a dead bird (figure 3.1).1 The genesis of this startling scene was a work by Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647–1717), and the history of this image says much about how knowledge of the New World was obtained, and how it was transmitted to the studies and private libraries of Europe, and from there into popular works like Darwin’s encyclopedia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fingerprint Sourcebook
    CHAPTER HISTORY Jeffery G. Barnes CONTENTS 3 1.1 Introduction 11 1.6 20th Century 3 1.2 Ancient History 17 1.7 Conclusion 4 1.3 221 B.C. to A.D. 1637 17 1.8 Reviewers 5 1.4 17th and 18th Centuries 17 1.9 References 6 1.5 19th Century 18 1.10 Additional Information 1–5 History C H A P T E R 1 CHAPTER 1 HISTORY 1.1 Introduction The long story of that inescapable mark of identity has Jeffery G. Barnes been told and retold for many years and in many ways. On the palm side of each person’s hands and on the soles of each person’s feet are prominent skin features that single him or her out from everyone else in the world. These fea- tures are present in friction ridge skin which leaves behind impressions of its shapes when it comes into contact with an object. The impressions from the last finger joints are known as fingerprints. Using fingerprints to identify indi- viduals has become commonplace, and that identification role is an invaluable tool worldwide. What some people do not know is that the use of friction ridge skin impressions as a means of identification has been around for thousands of years and has been used in several cultures. Friction ridge skin impressions were used as proof of a person’s identity in China perhaps as early as 300 B.C., in Japan as early as A.D. 702, and in the United States since 1902. 1.2 Ancient History Earthenware estimated to be 6000 years old was discov- ered at an archaeological site in northwest China and found to bear clearly discernible friction ridge impressions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain
    This is a repository copy of An Elusive Legacy: The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/140325/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Savani, G orcid.org/0000-0002-8076-9535 (2019) An Elusive Legacy: The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Britannia, 50. pp. 13-48. ISSN 0068-113X https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X19000023 © The Author(s) 2019. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.This article has been published in a revised form in Britannia https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X19000023. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ An Elusive Legacy: The Rediscovery of Roman Baths in Eighteenth-Century Britain By GIACOMO SAVANI ABSTRACT In this paper, I investigate how eighteenth-century antiquarians engaged with the remains of Roman bath buildings in Britain and discuss their multifaceted attitude towards the ancient practice of bathing, with a focus on the city of Bath.
    [Show full text]
  • Tiny Love Baby Names Book 2016 Page 2
    Tiny Love Baby Names Book 2016 page 2 Connecting with Your Little One: A Guide to the Perfect Name Choosing your baby’s name is never an easy task, so we at Tiny Love have created a special book to help you bond with your baby and find the perfect name. Our Tiny Love Baby Names Book is meant to accompany you through each stage before giving birth to your little one. Keep track of the names you like, read inspirational and informative articles, enjoy interactive resources and more! Amber Amethyst Aqua Aquamarine Ash page 3 Geographical Begin your baby’s life journey with a name inspired by a city or country that is meaningful to you! Tiny Thoughts You can bond with your baby by taking periodic walks. It’s a good Boys way to not only stay active, but to create a special bond between you and your baby. Bailey (Colorado, USA) Geneva (Switzerland) Berlin (Germany) Jackson (Mississippi, USA) Cairo (Egypt) Jordan Carson (California, USA) Kent (United Kingdom) What do you do to get outside Cody (Wyoming, USA) Lincoln (Nebraska, USA) during your pregnancy? Dakota (USA) London (England) Dallas (Texas, USA) Marquise (France) Dayton (Ohio, USA) Mitchell (South Dakota, USA) Devon (England) Orlando (Florida, USA) Diego (California, USA) Paris (France) Francisco (California, USA) Reno (Nevada, USA) Gary (Indiana, USA) Santiago (Chile) Tiny Love Baby Names Book 2016 Play Gyms | Mobiles & Soothers | Baby Gear | On The Go Toys | Baby Toys | Best Baby Toys TinyLove.com page 4 Geographical Be inspired by your favorite places and most adventurous explorations while discovering the perfect name for your new baby.
    [Show full text]
  • Spontaneous Generation & Origin of Life Concepts from Antiquity to The
    SIMB News News magazine of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology April/May/June 2019 V.69 N.2 • www.simbhq.org Spontaneous Generation & Origin of Life Concepts from Antiquity to the Present :ŽƵƌŶĂůŽĨ/ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂůDŝĐƌŽďŝŽůŽŐLJΘŝŽƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐLJ Impact Factor 3.103 The Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology is an international journal which publishes papers in metabolic engineering & synthetic biology; biocatalysis; fermentation & cell culture; natural products discovery & biosynthesis; bioenergy/biofuels/biochemicals; environmental microbiology; biotechnology methods; applied genomics & systems biotechnology; and food biotechnology & probiotics Editor-in-Chief Ramon Gonzalez, University of South Florida, Tampa FL, USA Editors Special Issue ^LJŶƚŚĞƚŝĐŝŽůŽŐLJ; July 2018 S. Bagley, Michigan Tech, Houghton, MI, USA R. H. Baltz, CognoGen Biotech. Consult., Sarasota, FL, USA Impact Factor 3.500 T. W. Jeffries, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA 3.000 T. D. Leathers, USDA ARS, Peoria, IL, USA 2.500 M. J. López López, University of Almeria, Almeria, Spain C. D. Maranas, Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Park, PA, USA 2.000 2.505 2.439 2.745 2.810 3.103 S. Park, UNIST, Ulsan, Korea 1.500 J. L. Revuelta, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain 1.000 B. Shen, Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, USA 500 D. K. Solaiman, USDA ARS, Wyndmoor, PA, USA Y. Tang, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA E. J. Vandamme, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium H. Zhao, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA 10 Most Cited Articles Published in 2016 (Data from Web of Science: October 15, 2018) Senior Author(s) Title Citations L. Katz, R. Baltz Natural product discovery: past, present, and future 103 Genetic manipulation of secondary metabolite biosynthesis for improved production in Streptomyces and R.
    [Show full text]
  • Portrait of Martin Lister in This Book Is in Monochrome (Figure )
    EPILOGUE LISTER’S PORTRAIT AND THE TRAGEDY OF BURWELL PARK The reader may note that the main (and only) portrait of Martin Lister in this book is in monochrome (Figure ). When I began this work, I believed optimistically that a lovely full-colored visage would be trivial to find. Surely, such an eminent Royal physician, officer of the Royal Society, alumnus of Cambridge and Oxford, and major donor to the Ashmolean Museum would have had several images painted or engraved. After all, there were numerous portraits of his parents, his mother’s being part of the Tate Collection.1 Lister’s daughters were also artists, so it was not altogether unreasonable to expect that they had subjected their father to a sitting. I was wrong. Paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable woman adapts herself to the world: the unreasonable woman persists in trying to adapt the world to herself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreason- able woman,” I decided I had better make some progress.2 Three years of queries around the world passed without any solid leads, the only image available a damaged and fuzzy reproduction that was circulating on Wikipedia without attribution. After weeks of searching, I tracked down the Wikipedia image to a black-and-white photograph in the archives of the Natural History Museum in London, but, frustratingly, the photo had no provenance. John Parker and Basil Harley had to use the same unsatisfactory illustration for their groundbreaking transla- tion of Lister’s English Spiders. I came slowly to the conclusion that perhaps that would be my fate as well.
    [Show full text]
  • “Refer to Folio and Number:” Encyclopedias, the Exchange
    Margócsy, Refer to Folio 1 “Refer to folio and number:” Encyclopedias, the Exchange of Curiosities and Practices of Identification before Linnaeus Dániel Margócsy Harvard University Imagine you are a natural historian in St Petersburg in the 1730s. You are fascinated with botany and hope to enrich your garden with some exotic plants from the British Isles. You write to your acquaintances in London to send you some seeds, especially from the species named ... Well, yes, what is that species called? And even if you know its name, would your English correspondent call that British plant the same name? Or would he think that the name refers to another species? How can you make sure that you will receive the plant you were thinking of? In the period before the widespread acceptance of Linnaeus' binomial system, how do you establish a common system of communication that could ensure that your private identifications of plants are understood by your correspondents all around Europe? Johann Amman faced exactly these difficulties as professor of botany and natural history at the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The Swiss natural historian came to Russia in 1733 at the bright age of 26. He trained in Leiden during the 1720s and then worked in London for a few years as curatorial assistant in the collection of Hans Sloane, which was later to become the British Museum. Once he moved to Petersburg, Amman was responsible for the upkeep of the Academy's botanical garden. As part of the job, it was necessary that he actively participate in the international exchange of seeds and plants.
    [Show full text]
  • Vipera Ammodytes, “Sand Viper” – Origin of Its Name, and a Sand Habitat in Greece
    Vipera ammodytes, “Sand Viper” – origin of its name, and a sand habitat in Greece Henrik Bringsøe Irisvej 8 DK-4600 Køge Denmark [email protected] Photos by the author Close-up view of Vipera ammodytes from Achaia Feneos. INTRODUCTION Greece has a rich viperid representation of As a guidance to habitat preference and other five species (JOGER & STÜMPEL, 2005). How- natural historical aspects of V. ammodytes, ever, four of them have small and localised my field observations on that species on the Greek distributions and are considered rare Peloponnese from April 2008 are provided. in Greece: Vipera berus in the northern Of particular relevance is one truly sandy mountains of the mainland, Vipera graeca in habitat in a coastal region with a rich popula- northern and central upland regions of the tion. mainland, Macrovipera schweizeri in the Mi- I will also explore the nomenclatural facets of los Archipelago (Western Cyclades), and V. ammodytes in a historical context as the Montivipera xanthina on the Eastern Aegean record behind well-established scientific islands and in coastal Thrace. names often dates much further back in time The fifth species, Vipera ammodytes, is ubi- than what the formal authorship of the bino- quitous (BRINGSØE, 1986; HECKES et al., mial names reveal. The oldest recognised bi- 2005; TRAPP, 2007) and basically forms a vi- nomial names date of course from 1758, i.e. perid landmark of Greece. Its popular name Linné’s Systema naturae (10th edition) which is either Sand Viper or Nose-horned Viper was, regrettably, very superficial in terms of (ARNOLD, 2002; STUMPEL-RIENKS, 1992).
    [Show full text]