Once
considered marginal members of the animal world (at best) or vile and
offensive creatures (at worst), insects saw a remarkable uptick in
their status during the early Renaissance. This quickened interest was
primarily manifested in visual images—in illuminated manuscripts,
still life paintings, the decorative arts, embroidery, textile design,
and cabinets of curiosity.
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In The Insect and the Image,
Janice Neri explores the ways in which
such imagery defined the insect as a proper subject of study for
Europeans of the early modern period.
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It was not until the sixteenth century that insects began to appear as
the sole focus of paintings and drawings — as isolated objects,
or
specimens, against a blank background. The artists and other image
makers Neri discusses deployed this “specimen logic” and so
associated
themselves with a mode of picturing in which the ability to create a
highly detailed image was a sign of artistic talent and a keenly
observant eye. The Insect and the Image shows how specimen logic both
reflected and advanced a particular understanding of the natural
world — an understanding that, in turn, supported the
commodification of
nature that was central to global trade and commerce during the early
modern era.
Revealing how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century artists and image
makers shaped ideas of the natural world, Neri’s work enhances
our
knowledge of the convergence of art, science, and commerce today. |
The Insect and the Image
Visualizing Nature in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700
by Janice Neri
University
Of Minnesota Press, 2011
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a copy
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