Opening the curiosity box: Botanical images as sites of transformation for the scientific practices of annotation and display in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Karen Stewart Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Philosophy, Visual Arts (Illustration) at Stellenbosch University Supervisor: Professor Keith Dietrich MARCH 2007 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration: I, the undersigned declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Summary This thesis investigates the hidden narratives of South African botanical images made in the late seventeenth to eighteenth century. Plant collecting and image making was part of early modernist scientific practice of collection and display. These images are examined from postmodern perspectives that treat them as "texts" that validated colonial botanical agendas. Botanical art objectified "nature" enforcing it into a textual code that sanitised it and made it suitable for study by Eurocentric natural philosophers. The impact of particular scientific agendas about "nature" can be linked to the stereotyping and subjugation of both indigenous knowledge systems and women. This thesis considers the impact that the complex historical and socio-political situations of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had to bear on the discursive formations associated with the botanical sciences, of which botanical art forms an integral part. The process whereby indigenous knowledge was effectively written out of acceptable botanical practice (a trend that persists today) is evaluated. I determine what the current negative stigmas associated with the art form are and conclude that artists and botanists working within the discipline do not acknowledge the limitations of the art form in reflecting empirical "truths" and this leads to the creation of images that rely on tradition rather than innovation. I discuss my practical work in relation to the ideas presented in this thesis. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Hierdie tesis ondersoek die versteekte narratiewe in Suid-Afrikaanse botaniese tekeninge wat uit die laat sewentiende tot agtiende eeu dateer. ·Die versameling van plante en maak van gepaardgaande tekeninge val onder die vroee modernistiese wetenskaplike praktyke van versameling en tentoonstelling. Bogenoemde tekeninge word vanuit 'n postmodernistiese oogpunt ondersoek as "tekste" wat gebruik is om koloniale botaniese agendas te staaf. Botaniese kuns het die "natuur" geobjektiveer en dit binne 'n tekstuele kode geplaas wat dit gesuiwer het en daarvan 'n toepaslike onderwerp vir studie deur Eurosentriese natuurfilosowe gemaak het. Die impak van spesifieke wetenskaplike agendas aangaande die "natuur" hou verband met die stereotipering en die onderdrukking van beide inheemse sisteme van kennis en vroue. Hierdie thesis ondersoek die impak wat die komplekse historiese en sosiopolitese toestande gedurende die sewentiende en agtiende eeue op die beredenering rondom botaniese wetenskappe, waarvan botaniese kuns 'n integrale deel uitmaak, gehad het. Die proses waarvolgens inheemse kennis uit botaniese praktyk "uitgeskryf' is ('n tendens wat vandag voortleef), word beoordeel. Ek bepaal wat die huidige negatiewe stigmas is wat geassoseer word met die kunsvorm en kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat kunstenaars en botaniste wat binne hierdie vakgebied werk nie die beperkinge van hierdie kunsvorm erken insoseer dit empiriese "waarhede" weerkaats nie en dat dit lei tot tekeninge wat staatmak op tradisie eerdeer as innovasie. Ek bespreek ook my eie praktiese werk in verhouding tot die idees wat in hierdie tesis geopper word. Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III NOTES Ill OPENING THE CURIOSITY BOX: BOTANICAL IMAGES AS SITES OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE SCIENTIFIC PRACTICES OF ANNOTATION AND DISPLAY IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES VII INTRODUCTION VII THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL DOMINANCE ON INDIGENOUS CULTURE VIII TAXONOMY: THE NEED FOR ORDER IX THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE THESIS IX POSTMODERN VERSUS MODERNIST CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENCES XI BOTANICAL ART: THE POOR RELATIVE TO FINE ART XII THE CONFLUENCE OF MY THEORETICAL WITH MY PRACTICAL WORK XII TRAVEL ACCOUNTS, JOURNALS, MANUSCRIPTS AND BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS (LITERATURE REVIEW) XIII CHAPTER BREAKDOWN XIII CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORICAL, RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND OF THE "SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION" THAT GAVE RISE TO VARIOUS COLLECTING AND ANNOTATING PRACTICES OF BOTANY XIV CHAPTER 2: TRAVEL ACCOUNTS, JOURNALS, MANUSCRIPTS AND THE VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY: A LEGITIMISING FORCE FOR SCIENCE XIV CHAPTER 3: DISCIPLINING "NATURE": A DISCUSSION OF THE USE OF BOTANICAL ART AS AN INTENDED MEANS OF REFLECTING "TRUTH" XV CHAPTER 4: CULTURAL AND POLITICAL INFLUENCES BEHIND CURIOSITY COLLECTING IN SOUTH AFRICA XVI CONCLUSION XVII Acknowledgements Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za CHAPTER 1: THE msTORICAL, RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL BACK.GROUND OF THE "SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION" THAT GAVE RISE TO VARIOUS COLLECTING AND ANNOTATING PRACTICES OF BOTANY 2 THE "SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION" 2 THE NEW METHOD 2 THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF SCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHERS 4 THE STUDY OF "NATURE'S BOOK" 7 REGULATING THE SENSES 8 CONCLUSION 9 CHAPTER 2: TRAVEL ACCOUNTS, JOURNALS, MANUSCRIPTS AND THE VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY: A LEGITAMISING FORCE FOR SCIENCE 11 SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS VERSUS FINANCIAL GAIN: 1WO OPPOSING FORCES? 11 TRAVEL ACCOUNTS AS TOOLS OF SCIENCE 14 INVENTION OF PRINTING: DISSEMINATION AND ACCESS TO IDEAS 15 THE COLLECTORS, TRAVELLERS AND "EXPLORERS" TO SOUTH AFRICA: A DISCUSSION OF THEIR JOURNAL WRITING 17 LINNAEUS: THE QUESTION OF STYLE AND THE EXTENT OF HIS INFLUENCE 17 LEVAILLANT: BIRDS OF A FEATHER 20 LEVAILI.ANT'S COMMERCIAL INTERESTS 23 A NON-SCIENTIFIC APPROACH: A SOLDIER'S JOURNAL 24 PLANT TRANSFERS AND EMPIRE BUILDING: THE IMPACT OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY 25 THE MOVE TOWARDS A CLEARLY SCIENTIFIC MODE OF EXPRESSION 26 THE RACIST LEGACY OF THE BOTANICAL "EXPLORERS" 27 CONCLUSION 28 CHAPTER 3: DISCIPLINING "NATURE": A DISCUSSION OF THE USE OF BOTANICAL ART AS AN INTENDED MEANS OF REFLECTING "TRUTH" 29 THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE MOVEMENT IN THE "SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION" 30 BOTANICAL LATIN AND LINNAEUS'S SEXUAL SYSTEM 33 FACSIMILES OF "NATURE" 36 ANONYMITY AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER 39 ANALYSIS OF THE COPIES OF DRAWINGS FOUND 41 CONCLUSION 45 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za CHAPTER 4: CULTURAL AND SCIENTIFIC IDEOLOGY THAT INFLUENCED CURIOSITY COLLECTING IN SOUTH AFRICA 47 AWE AND WONDERMENT IN A CABINET 48 CURIOSITY COllECTING: FANTASY DISGUISED AS SCIENCE? 49 BOTANICAL ART: THE HYBRID ART 51 BOTANICAL ART: FERTILE GROUND FOR STIGMATISATION? 52 SIMUIACRUM OF BOTANY: A DISCUSSION OF THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE PRODUCTION OF MY PRACTICAL WORK 55 CONCLUSION 60 CONCLUSION 62 TERMS AND ARGUMENTS USED IN THIS THESIS 67 TExTs 67 MODERNISM 67 HUMANISM 68 "TRIBES" AND TRIBUIATIONS 68 SCIENTIST'S CRITICISM OF POSTMODERN CRITIQUE OF THE SCIENCES: THE SOKAL AND BRICMONT DEBATE 69 DEFINING EPISTEME 71 APPENDIXB: 74 DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUSCRIPTS USED FOR THIS STUDY AND A HISTORY OF THEIR OWNERSHIP 74 FLORILEGIA (COllECTION OF PAINTINGS OF FLOWERS) 74 COPIES OF FLORILEGIA 79 APPENDIX C: TRANSCRIPTS OF E-MAIL CONVERSATIONS 82 CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. E. M. MARAIS (BOTANY DEPT. UNIVERSITY OF STEllENBOSCH) 82 CORRESPONDENCE WITH ANDREA HART (BOTANY LIBRARY, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON) 84 BIBUOGRAPHY 90 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements I would like to gratefully acknowledge the help I received from certain individuals without whom my Masters thesis and accompanying practical work would have been a poorer version of its current form: Andrea Hart, Assistant Librarian at the Botany Library, The Natural History Museum, London. Mimi Seyffert, Special Collections at the J. S. Gericke Library, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch. Neil Hendriksz, Fine Art librarian at the J. S. Gericke Library, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch. Melanie Guestyn, Special Collections at the National Library of South Africa, Cape Town. Anna-Lise Fourie, Special Collections at the Mary Gunn Library, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria. Dr. Bettie Marais and Dr. Leanne Dreyer from the Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, both helped me to understand some botanical concepts and provided me with information, contacts in the botany world, my first botanical commissions and their support, all of which I am very grateful for. Lauren Shantall, Chris Rumbell, Hannah Morris and Emma Holtmann for proof reading the document and providing their valuable feedback. Barry Tyson my husband for reading this thesis numerous times; for being my research assistant (including a trip to the Natural History Museum in London); and for always generously offering his support, stability and encouragement. Paddy Bouma and Elizabeth Gunter played a vital role in training and fine-tuning my artistic eye. Professor Keith Dietrich, my supervisor, who taught me how to "interrogate my own work" more intensely. I am indebted to him for his support and criticism, given through his much-needed sabbatical leave, that has enabled me to grow both academically and