Collecting Nature Collecting Nature Edited by Andrea Gáldy and Sylvia Heudecker Collecting Nature, Edited by Andrea Gáldy and Sylvia Heudecker This book first published 2014 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2014 by Andrea Gáldy, Sylvia Heudecker and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-6055-7, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-6055-0 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................... xi List of Abbreviations ................................................................................ xiii Foreword ................................................................................................... xv Introduction .............................................................................................. xix Arthur MacGregor Chapter Abstracts ................................................................................ xxxvii Chapter One ................................................................................................. 1 Collecting Nature within Nature: Animal Inclusions in Amber in Early Modern Collections Rachel King Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 19 Collecting Zoological Rarities at the Medici Court: Real, Stuffed and Depicted Beasts as Cultural Signs Angelica Groom Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 37 Wenzel Jamnitzer’s Mortar: Life Casting and Court Experimentalism in the 16th Century Virginie Spenlé Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 57 Ornithology and Collecting in the Dutch Golden Age: The Collecting of Exotica and Captured Specimens Joy Kearney vi Table of Contents Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 75 The Birds in Mark Catesby’s Natural History: Collected, Depicted, Commodified Shepard Krech III Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 97 A Princely Plant Collector in Renaissance Germany Miriam Hall Kirch Chapter Seven .......................................................................................... 109 Collecting the Painted Netherlands: The Art Collection of Archduke Ernest of Austria in Brussels Ivo Raband Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 125 The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg and Circulation of Objects at the Early Royal Society of London, 1660-1677 Iordan Avramov Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 137 Carl Linnaeus and the Natural History Collections of Lovisa Ulrika of Sweden at Drottningholm Palace Anne Harbers Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 151 The Early Modern Library as a Site for Collecting and Display of Scientific Instruments Inga Elmqvist Söderlund Epilogue and Outlook .............................................................................. 169 Collecting Nature /Archiving Eden Dornith Doherty Bibliography ............................................................................................ 181 Authors’ Biographies ............................................................................... 211 Index ........................................................................................................ 217 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter One Figure 1: Oval piece of amber with an animal inclusion, sixteenth century, 5.3 x 9.8cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Kunstkammer, Inv.-Nr. KK 3536 (source and © Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien). Figure 2: Amber specimens from Settala’s collection, from Kircher’s Mundus subterraneus (1678) II, 80 (source and © The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh). Figure 3: Two fake inclusions from the Berendt Collection; left: frog, 4.8 x 2.7cm; right: fish, 5.3 x 2.5cm (source and © Carola Radke, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin). Figure 4: Frontispiece from Daniel Hermann’s De Rana et Lacerta Succino Prussiaco, 2nd ed. 1593 (source and © The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh). Figure 5: Page from Justus Klobius’s Ambrae Historiam, Wittenberg, 1666 (source and © The University of Edinburgh, Special Collections). Chapter Two Figure 6: Bartolomeo Bimbi, Three views of a Chinese Golden pheasant (Fagiano dorato in tre vedute), 1708, oil on canvas, 109 x 140cm, Poggio a Caiano: Villa Medici, Museo della Natura Morta, Inv. 1890 n. 4931 (source and © Polo Museale Florence, with kind permission of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo). Figure 7: Bartolomeo Bimbi, Lamb with two heads (Agnello a due teste), 1721, oil on canvas, 58 x 72cm, Museo della Natura Morta, Villa Medici, Poggio a Caiano, Inv. 1890 n. 4854 (source and © Polo Museale Florence, with kind permission of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo). Figure 8: Bartolomeo Bimbi, Calf with two heads, resting (Vitella con due teste, accosciata), 1719, oil on canvas, 95.2 x 118.7cm, Poggio a Caiano: Villa Medici, Museo della Natura Morta, Inv. 1890 n. 4984 (source and © Polo Museale Florence, with kind permission of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo). Figure 9: Pietro Neri Scacciati, Exotic and European Birds (Uccelli esotici ed europei) 1731, oil on canvas, cm 176 x 119cm, Museo della Natura Morta, Villa Medici, Poggio a Caiano, Inv.1890 n. 4863 (source and © Polo Museale Florence, with kind permission of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo). viii List of Illustrations Chapter Three Figure 10: Mortar with life casts plants and lizard by Wenzel Jamnitzer, Nuremberg, c.1550, bronze, brown patina, height 13cm, upper diameter 16cm, private collection (source and © Kunstkammer Georg Laue, Munich). Figure 11: Portrait of Wenzel Jamnitzer by Nicolas de Neufchâtel, Augsburg, c.1562-1563, oil on canvas, height 92cm, width 79cm, Geneva, Musée d’art et d’histoire, inv. no. 1825-23 (source: Wikipedia Commons, artwork in the public domain). Figure 12: Muffle kiln used by Elector August of Saxony in his “Gold House” at the Dresden Palace, Nuremberg or Augsburg, c.1575, height 38.8 cm, width 34.5cm, depth 34.5cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Kunstgewerbemuseum, inv. no. 40919 (source and © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden). Figure 13: Personifications of Pride and Faith on Jamnitzer’s mortar (source and © Kunstkammer Georg Laue, Munich). Figure 14: Allegory of Touch on Jamnitzer’s mortar (source and © Kunstkammer Georg Laue, Munich). Chapter Four Figure 15: Melchior De Hondecoeter, Birds on a Balustrade, c.1670, oil on canvas, 142.9 x 123cm (source and © Stair Sainty Gallery, London). Figure 16: Melchior De Hondecoeter, Attack on a Poultry Yard, c.1680, oil on canvas, 137.1 x 168.2cm (source and © Sotheby’s, London). Figure 17: Melchior De Hondecoeter, “Long live the king”, c.168(2?), oil on canvas 188.5 x 151.7cm (source and © private collection). Figure 18: Paradise by Gillis de Hondecoeter, signed in monogram and dated 1635, oil on panel, 96.5 x 143.5cm (source and © Charles Beddington, London). Figure 19: Dodo museum with specimens (real skeletal remains), Port Louis (source and © author’s photograph). Chapter Five Figure 20: William Faithorne, John Ray (source and © Trustees of the British Museum). Figure 21: Stephen Slaughter, Sir Hans Sloane, Bt., 1736 (source and © National Portrait Gallery, London). Figure 22: Gawen Hamilton, A Conversation of Virtuosis… at the Kings Arms, 1735 (source and © National Portrait Gallery, London). Joseph Goupy is probably sixth from left, standing behind and in line with the seated figure. Figure 23: John Ray, Dodo. Pavó. The Peacock. Gallo pavo. The Turkey. Gallina Africana., Tab. XXVII in The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the county of Warwick…, 1678 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.). Figure 24: Mark Catesby, The Blew Jay (Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata), 1731 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.). Figure 25: Mark Catesby, The Tyrant (Eastern Kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus), 1731 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.). Collecting Nature ix Figure 26: William Ellis, Apapane (Himatione sanguine), c.1779 (source and © Natural History Museum, London). Figure 27: Mark Catesby, The Fieldfare of Carolina (American Robin, Turdus migratorius), 1731 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.). Figure 28: Pieter Cornelius de Bevere, Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis), c.1754-57 (source and © Natural History Museum, London). Figure 29: Mark Catesby, The Yellow-rump (Yellow-rumped Warbler, Dendroica coronata), 1731 (Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, D.C.). Figure 30: Sydney Parkinson, Small Minivet