17th century collection of curiosities, painted by Scarabattolo. Corals, scallops, carved ivory, a lens and other glass objects, drawings and paintings are the elements of thi s fictitious collection.

Scientific collections Most of what the public has learned of science over the years has resulted not only from works intended to popularize scientific knowledge but also from a multitude of collections. The encyclopedic collections displayed virtually anything as long as the objects in question were valuable, rare, exotic or unusual. The scientific collections were more directly related to the studies being carried out by the collectors and here objects of research were placed alongside the ancient texts. What the two types of collections have in common is an astonishing amount of amazing items of scientific interest.

Renato G. Mazzolini

57

View of a corner of the restored 16th century art room in

Schloss Ambras near Innsbruck, where the Austrian Archduke

Ferdinand II kept his valuable collection of scientific instruments,

artifacts and ali sorts of curiosities. He left a well preserved

inventory which gives ampie information on ali facets of this

collection. At present, the mai n part of i t is in the Kunst­

historisches Museum in Vienna.

Precious coral, such as these red strands, were often set in gold or silver. This Dafne (c. 1550) inates from Wenzel Jamnitzer's collection.

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Most of what the public has learned of science over the years has resulted not only from works intended to popularize scientific knowledge but also from the Wunderkammern, botanica! gardens, collections of minerals, exhibitions of stuffed ani mals, models of the human body and of the solar system, of the earth and the earth 's structure, an d collections of the instruments of physics and chemistry. In addition to museums of natura] science, housing collections of minerals, fos­sils, herbariums and properly presented animals, scien­tific collections also include anthropological and eth­nological collections, experimental physics and chemistry Jaboratories, zoos and botanica! gardens: i.e. collections of living animals and plants, the biolo­gica] cycle, form and structure which can be studied at firsthand. The common feature of botanica] gardens and herbariums, or of zoos and collections of stuffed animals, is that in both contexts the animals or plants are removed from their natura] environments and are placed in artificial surroundings.

The Wunderkammem In medieval churches it was the custom for the benefit of the faithful - as i t stili is in many Catholic churches

- to display relics set in valuable frames arnidst small architectural structures, statuettes and frescoes which exalted and thus taught their mora] and religious meaning. The gold, ivory and silver used in the frames gave the object an immediately recognizable mundane value, whilst the quantity and rarity of the relics owned by a church increased its importance in the eyes of the faithful , turning it into a piace of pilgrim­age. The same churches might display treasures, mili­tary trophies, symbols of temporal power as well as exotic and unusual finds. The common thread linking the miscellaneous objects on display was the sanctity of their surroundings . From the fourteenth century onwards, alongside the collection of religious items, a form of secular collec­tion developed, the most typical examples of which were the studioli established by princes and humanists throughout the fifteenth and during the first half of the sixteenth centuries. In the estudes of Charles V ( 1338-1380) of France an d of his brother the Duke Jean de Berry (1340-1416) in the second half of the fourteenth century, and also in the studio/i of the Italian noblemen of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, as in those of Federico

Yiew of the museum for natural history of the Copenhagen physician Olaus Worm ( 1588-1654). Ti t le illustration from the catalogue which the collector had published by Elsevier at Leyden under the title Museum Wormianum in 1655.

di Montefeltro (1422-1482) in Urbino, Francis I (1541-1587) in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and Isabella d'Este (1474-1539) in Mantua, books, art, antiques and science coexist but there is no lack of unusual and fantastic objects, such as the horn of a narwhal which, at the time, was attributed to the mythical unicorn. While the studio/o was a limited space in which a refined aesthetic taste and a strong interest for antiques prevailed, and where everything was imme­diately available to the gentleman who, in moments of leisure, could contemplate his objects either in soli­tude or with a small group of friends, the collections of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were housed in larger spaces, usually purpose built and richly decorated to contain a great variety of objects. The Kunst- und Wunderkammern of the sixteenth and

This heron of eu t rock-crystal belonging to the

Ambras collection.

59

The famous 16th century

Nuremberg gold­smith Wenzel

Jamnitzer, was a notorious

collector of sci enti fie,

technical and artistic valuables.

60

Portrait by Nicolas

de Neufchàtel, dating from

1561.

The Habsburg Emperor Rudolf l was largely interested in occultism, astrology and art. In his Prague castle he started a curio and art collection, already famous in his days. The small and often precious objects were kept, exhibited or built into in such beautiful cabinets.

seventeenth centuries were common almost every­where and especially in the countries of Centrai and Eastern Europe. They displayed virtually anything as long as the objects in question were valuable, rare, exotic or unusual. There were natura! finds (naturalia) and artisti c products ( artificialia) arranged in an order which, to us, may appear chaotic but which was dic­tated by the wish to bring together under one roof a virtual sample pack of the world's rarest, oddest and most curious manifestations. It was a world theater in which objects, much like actors, took on roles sym­bolic of propriety and virtue. By owning and display­ing objects in a collection, the collector put together a picture of the world which, because of its tangible nature, offered much more than could be learned from mere de criptions in books. The collection represented a kind of visible and tangible encyclopedia of a world which geographic explorations had expanded out of ali proportion. lndeed, there was no lack of objects

from the Far East and the Americas. The wealth of a collection and its rarity were a statement of the owner's prestige. Furthermore, the collection was open to high ranking visitors and academics and was often publicized through catalogues and in the press. It also required the assistance of specialized staff who were qualified to oversee its development. In the second half of the sixteenth century, certain very important collections were assembled which served as models and were subsequently imitated by many collectors. Among these we could mention the collection of the Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595), governor of the Tyrol, which is kept at Ambras near Innsbruck; the collection of Duke Albert V (1528-1579) of Munich, which is known as Theatrum sapientiae; and that of the Landgrave William IV ( 1532-1392) of Kassel. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1612) set up a spectacular collection in Prague, whi1e in the mid-sixteenth centu­ry in Rome the Jesuits, particularly under the guidance of Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680), established the famous Collegio Romano. Collecting became fashion­able ali over Europe: in England, for example, with John Tradescent (father and son), in Holland with Johan Maurits of Nassau (1604-1679) and in Denmark with Frederick II (1534-1588).

The scientific collections During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, at the same time as princes and aristocrats were assemb1ing their grand collections, smaller collections were put

The Antwerp painter Jan van Kessel (1626-1679) enjoyed great fame in his day for hi s meticulously worked

out and zoologically exact reproductions of insects, butterflies, scallops and fishes. Detai l

of the centrai pane! 'Jerusalem' forming part of the ensemble 'Asia'.

A small chair ( 1545) from Jamnitzer's collection of curiosities. The seat and supports are made of elephant bones.

61

This display cabinet, crowned with an artistically arranged mixture of precious scallops and corals was made in c. 1625 by Philips Hainhofer by order of the Swedish King Gustaf Adolf.

Bezoar stones were highly desirable collector's items. These

stones, mainly found in the stomachs or gallbladders of ruminants,

were used as a universal antidote in medicine after being

pulverized. Smaller specimen were used as amulets. The bigger the

bezoar stone, the more valuable it was. This exceptional specimen came from

Spain and was artistically set in the 16th century.

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together which, while having some elements in com­mon with the encyclopedic collections, differed from these in that they were more directly related to the studies being carried out by the collectors. These col­lections were usually the work of doctors, chemists or men of letters. The scientific collections of the sixteenth century were assembled at the same time as the first botanica! gardens and the first theaters of the human anatomy were being created and they demonstrated the new direction which scientific research had taken . It required the objects of research to be placed alongside the ancient texts. Although the book may have been authoritative, it alone was no longer enough. The three realms of nature had to be personally researched and had to be brought within reach, if possible in a room actjacent to the study, so that they could be referred to constantly. However, although the preser­vation of minerals presented no major problem, prob­lems did arise when it carne to preserving plants and animals. Preservation techniques , such as the drying of plants and preparing, stuffing and mounting the skins of animals were further developed during these years. The problem of preservation, which allowed the object to be referred to immediately, was al so resolved by replacing the object with a faithful image, i.e. an illustration . Conrad Gessner (1516-1565) himself pro­duced a vast range of botanica! illustrations, while Ulisse Aldrovandi (l 522-1605) employed a group of capable painters to produce thousands of animai illus­trations. Many natural history museums of the six­teenth and seventeenth centuries, therefore, not only contain naturalia but also collections of illustrations

Uppsala Copenhagen Amsterdam London ZUrich Milan Verona Bologna Rome

10 Naples

Olaf Rudbeck (1630 · 1702) Olaus Wonn (1588 · 1654) Frederik Ruysch (1638- 1731) William Charleton (1642- 1702) Conrad Gessner ( 1516- 1565) Manfredo Settala ( 1600- 1680) Francesco Caizolari ( 154 1 - 1593) Uhsse Mdrovandi (1 522- 1605) MIChele Mercati (1541 - 1593) Ferrante Imperalo (1550 - 1625)

Famous private scientific collections in 16th and 17th century Europe.

The Edinburgh Camera Obscura to math the curve of the focus (with the concave surface) . The resulting image of the outside world is not magnified but reproduced at life size and cor­rectly orientated.

One of the easier pieces of present-day technology to comprehend is the photo camera. Maybe not surprising when one knows that photo­graphy has been around since the first half of the nineteenth century. When examining the insides of this clever machine, the non-technical explorer finds a reassuring lack of incompre­hensible electron ics. A w ind­ing mechanism transports the film (a plastic w ith a photo­sensitive emulsion) from one side of the box to the other, passing a small round hole with a lens (for adjustable focus) and a shutter mecha­nism (for short exposures) . Only when taking a photo­graph the shutter briefly opens and exposes the film to light from the outside world; the rest of the ti me it is pitch black inside. You could cali it a 'dark room ' or in Latin : camera obscura. lt has long been known that light beams travel in straight lines and that when these beams pass through a small hole into a darkened space, they will produce an (upside down and reversed) image on the apposite surface. As early as the fourth century BC Aris­totle described a salar eclipse, of which images could be seen under a tree where the narrow lightbeams struck the ground through a hole in the foliage. The same principle was widely used since the thirteenth cen-

tury in room projection by astronomers, who stud ied sun spots and eclipses. The intro­duction of the bi-convex lens in the pinhole in the sixteenth century greatly improved the camera obscura, concentrat ing the light and sharpening the image. Other uses became possible. In 1620, the German astrono­mer Johannes Kepler invented a portable camera obscura with a mirror projecting the image on a small table, which became a valuable aid for draughtsmen and painters. In ltaly, cameras were even used for public entertainment. Cen­turies before the brothers Lumière introduced the cine­ma, theatrical productions per­formed outside a darkroom were projected on a wh ite sheet for the audience inside.

During the nineteenth century, several large scale camera obscuras were built after the introduction of the meniscus­lens, which enabled images to be expanded in size with less loss of focus at the edges. In Britain, there are stili several of these large cameras in exis­tence; among them the Edin­burgh Camera Obscura. lt consists of a large dark room with a dome structure on top, at the center of which a metal cylinder projects out of the roof. A rotatable protective hood with a mirror make this contraption function like a

in which they are reproduced. lconographic documen­tation thus becarne a method of study and collection. If we examine what is left of ancient collections or read the inventories and catalogues printed, we might be struck by the presence of fragments of natura! objects such as, for example, a gigantic tooth , a rhi­noceros horn , the vertebra of a whale. The presence of similar finds, in piace of the entire animai itself, may give the impression that natura! collections of the time were mainly intended to di splay extraordinary f inds and that they were not thus very sc ientific. It must be remembered though that the frag ment replaced the

As the collecti ons grew, so did the need for classification, implici t study and naming of the

objects. Consequently, sca llop collecti ons were studied and classified according to kind. A painted

depiction by F. Tosi of a 17th century class ified scallop collection from the Museo Cospiano.

periscope. lnside the two meter long tube are two lenses which project the image from the mirror onto a white painted concave table, 19 feet (6.5 meters) below the tube. Because lenses focus light in a curve and distances in this camera are huge the table has

The Edinburgh Camera Obscu­ra Jn top of the Outlook Tower (in Castlehill , Edinburgh) has been in use since 1853, provid­ing insight in optical principles as well as enterta inment for ali.

View of the Camera Obscura Tower, founded in 1850 in Edinburgh wi th the help of the optical spec ialist M aria Theresa Short.

63

On the centrai panel , Parajba en Brasi/, of Jan van Kessel's painting ensemble 'America', he depicts Indians, masks, a traditional war outfit, ali sorts of ani mals and dishes of precious metals.

Between 1740 and l761 , the Nuremberg painter August J. Rosei

von Rosendorf published the four volumes of his Die monatliche

herausgegeben lnsekten-Be/ustigung, decorated with 356 beautiful

engravings. Here his Locusta Indica. The author describes the insect's

external features and colors and offers a great deal of information

on the locust in generai.

64

The Swedish natura) scientist Linneus (1707 -1778), was al so George Clifford's personal physician on the latter' s Haarlem estate Hartecamp, where he arranged his employer's botanic, minerai and zoologica! collections. His greatest achievement was the introduction of a binary naming for plants (1753) and for every living creature (1758). This portrait was painted by A. Roslin in 1775.

complete object only when the latter could not be obtained or displayed. The fragment documented it and symbolized the existence of a distinct being, and the chief aim of the naturalist was simply to catalogue i t. The collections of the naturalists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ensured the notoriety of their authors, stimulated interest in natura! history and created a market in exotica which - although more modest - resembled the market for antiques with experts and traders based particularly in Amsterdam and London. They also opened up new opportunities for painters and encouraged the establishment, partic­ularly in Nuremberg, of a tradition of publishers of natura! history works. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, scientific instruments found a piace in the Kunst- und Wunder­kammern and some of the major manufacturers of instruments worked for princes, such as Jost Biirgi (1552-1632) who worked for William IV in Kassel and Erasmus Habermel (1538-1606) who worked for Rudolph II in Prague. It is not always easy to establish whether the instruments were actually used or whether they were merely objects for display. In fact they were not always intended for immediate practical use. The instruments collected by Philip II of Spain (1527-1598), however, for his mathematical academy were ali destined to be used by his engineers and cartogra­phers.

The collections of the eighteenth century At the end of the seventeenth century and during the eighteenth century, numerous naturalists and natura! philosophers criticized the order in which the objects were displayed in the Kunst- und Wunderkammern. In particular, they criticized the taste for rarity, the mix­ing of artificialia with naturalia and the lack of dis­tinction between antiques and natura! history. They believed that natura! history finds should be displayed methodically and rationally so as to reflect nature and thus the categories of beings. They, therefore, placed the entire range of common species before rare and extraordinary finds and completeness became their obsession. A professiona1 naturalist differed from the simple amateur not only because he strived for com­pleteness in his collection but al so because of the kind of classification he applied. The eighteenth century was, after all, the era of the great systematicians like Charles Linneus (1707-1778), who had a major influ­ence throughout Europe. In the eighteenth century, museums of natura! history took on a public function and acted not only as centers of research but also as centers of teaching and thus their displays had to reflect the more accepted forms of classification of the time. The most important center for the study of natura] his­tory was the Cabinet du Roi in the Jardin des Plantes

'Art and curiosity collections' offered scholars an ) opportunity to study and classify curiosities such as

scallops, skeletons, etc. A study corner in the 'Amateur's Cabinet', painted by Jan Jordaens III is shown here.

65

The ancient Oxford Ashmolean building, dating from 1679-1683, was built by order of the businessman and collector, Elias Ashmole. It houses the oldest Museum of the History of Science in England.

Between 1690 and 1710, Charles Boyle

collected a great number of

instruments. The collection

was placed in the Museum by

Christ Church College of

Oxford.

66

in Paris. Between 1739 and 1788, it was headed by an exceptional naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc, count of B uffon ( 1707 -1788) w ho, together with Louis Daubenton (1716-1800), published the 15 volumes of Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roy between 1749 and 1767. In an institution which was heavily subsidized by the Crown, Buffon established a tradition of study which,

even after his death and under different politica! con­ditions, continued with alacrity and made Paris the most advanced center for the study of natura! history, especially during the first half of the nineteenth centu­ry. The enlightened rulers of the eighteenth century became increasingly aware of how much their public image and their states could benefit from stimulating the study of useful sciences as well as widespread and detailed documentation of national resources by set­ting up scientific acadernies and natura! history museums. Their inspiration was not dissirnilar to that of Philip II of Spain in the sixteenth century, with the difference, however, that the pool of experts had wid­ened considerably and the spread of scientific knowl­edge had significantly increased. In most cases, instead of reforrning universities, which often had out­dated and reactionary curricula and in which they had few powers of intervention, they chose to patronize scientific acadernies and to found new institutions over which they could exercise greater contro!. From the Russia of Peter the Great and, later, of Catherine II ( 1729-1796) to the Portugal of the Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782), from the Berli n of Frederick II ( 1712-1786) to the Vi enna of Maria Theresa (1717 -1780) a plethora of initiatives aimed to fulfill the need for a study of science which would assure the happiness of the people and of which the sovereign was the main coordinator and driving force. Two examples illustrate the efforts towards rational­ization undertaken by the princes. The elector of Saxony, Augustus II (1670-1733), reorganized his col­lections in Dresden, separating the art gallery from the meda! collection and the collection of prints from the scientific collections. The latter were taken to a new building, the Zwinger, and were in turn divided into a natura! history collection and a scientific instrument collection: the famous Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon. In 1775, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold I (1747-1792) who, together with other members of the Lorraine family, shared a lively interest in the sci­ences, opened the Rea[ Gabinetto di Fisica e di Storia Naturale in Florence, an institution which with its specialized staff and collections was to become the center for the renewal of scientific research in Tus­cany. In the eighteenth century, the creation of new research centers was made possible, not only thanks to the actions taken by princes but also to those taken by pri­vate individuals. For example, in order to purchase the extraordinarily eclectic collection of 79,576 objects belonging to Hans Sloane (1660-1753), and piace it in a national public institution, the English parliament launched a public lottery as a result of which the British Museum was founded. This was an institution of universal appeal which contained not only books and manuscripts but also ali kinds of antiques and objects of natura] history. The foundation at the end of the century in Haarlem, Holland of the Teyler museum, one of the most important European centers for research, especially in the field of electrology, was made possible by the bequest and will of the philan-

thropist Pieter Teyler va n der Hules ( 1702-1778) an d by the organizational abilities of the physicist Marti­nus van Marum (1750-1837) . By the end of the eighteenth century, even some uni­versities had launched widespread programs for the renewal of their facilities , their curricula and teaching methods. Led by Leyden, other universities such as Gottingen, Pavia and Edinburgh created laboratories and collections which related to disciplines such as chemistry, physics, natura! history, anatomy, patholo­gy, obstetrics, anthropology and ethnology.

The great national museums of the nineteenth century During the nineteenth century, natura! sciences, as well as chemistry and physics, developed enormously

The p! aster decorations inside the dome of the 'Ovai Hall ' in the Teyler Museum in Haarlem (the etherlands), each of which symbolizes branches of art or science, the interests of the 18th century Teyler Foundation: l. Sculpture; 2. Draughting; 3. Painting; 4. Architecture; 5. avigation; 6. Physics; 7. Agriculture; 8. Histoire Nature/le; 9. Geography; 10. Theology; Il. Astronomy; 12. Archeology; 13. Mathematics ; 14. Anatomy; 15. Poetry; 16. Music.

Pieter Teyler v an der Hulst ( 1702-1778) from the city of Haarlem bequeathed not only his vast fortune but also his collection of curiosities, books, drawings and paintings under the condition that i t would be managed by a foundation in his name. This resulted in the Teyler Museum in Haarlem, the large Ovai room of which is depicted here.

and played an increasingly important role in univer­sity teaching, urban life and in the l ife of nations. One of the most obvious testimonies of the way in which natura] science spread was the proliferation of scien­tific collections attached to various universities which, following the German example, sprang up almost everywhere in European universities. Another testimony is the number of natura! history museums opened even in the smallest towns with pri­vate means or modest public contributions from natu­ralist associations. The developments were pan­European, very widespread and Iargely voluntary. Incidentally, it is important to point out that the nine­teenth century was also a time when numerous associ­ations were formed in the field of science and that, although there was stili only a relatively modest num-

The glass chamber formed

part of the Danish King

Frederick IV ' s collection

which he built up in his

Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.

67

ber of professional scientists, there was a whole host of amateurs prepared to invest money and energy not only in setting up associations but also in establishing local natural history museums. Furthermore, towards the mid-nineteenth century, fol­lowing the changes made to curricula in many European schools, there was a gradua! increase in the teaching of scientific disciplines. This led many sec­ondary schools to equip themselves with small chem­istry laboratories as well as natura! history collections and physics laboratories with instruments and models for teaching purposes. The main feature of the nineteenth century, however, was the creation of great scientific museums of national importance. They truly became centers of research; they were staffed by highly skilled people and often competed with the universities. At the ational Convention of 1794, the Abbot Henri-

After the French Revolution, the Musée d 'Histoire Naturelle , accessible to the public, was laid out in the grounds of the Jardin du Roi. In the botanic garden, new agricultural possibilities and methods were shown and in the zoo the animals from the Yersailles menagerie were brought together. Apart from that the museum had a minerai department, a library and two laboratories.

In 1810, the Liverpool Bullock's museum represented African animals in their so-called 'natura!' habitat.

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Baptiste Grégoire (1750-1831) proposed the creation of a Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris which would collect and display recently invent­ed or improved utensils and machines in order to stim­ulate improvements in national industries. The pian was approved and carried out, it was a considerable success and was thus imitated. In the nineteenth centur , scientific museums played a more generai didactic role and were not exclu ively visited by experts or curious amateurs. Many in fact felt that they could be used to promote the technical and scientific education of the masses. The Deutsches Museum of Munich, founded in 1903, is probably the first most organic and spectacular example of an insti­tution created to fulfil this very role. Both private and government initiatives during the nineteenth century led to an extraordinary increase in the number of collections and to the construction of monumental national museums, rea! cathedrals of sci­ence. In the case of those dedicated to natura! history, such as the British Museum of Natura! History in London or the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, old collections were merged with new acquisitions, often resulting from scientific expeditions to the far­thest reaches of the globe organized for this very pur­pose. The objects were placed in new scenarios deter­mined either by the application of reformed linnean classifications or by the use of comparative anatomy or the theory of evolution. Meanwhile, new disci­plines such as anthropology, ethnology and paleontol­ogy required increasingly large spaces. Perhaps the most significant developments in terms of concept and display was the introduction of time and habitat in museums. Time means prehistory, an age which was visibly and dramatically documented by fossils of extinct species like dinosaurs. The mysteties and catastrophes of pre­history offered thousands of visitors to natura! history museums a vivid image of primordial nature which they could compare to the present, which was at the time made comfortable by paternalistic governments and highly progressive science. Habitat means that the natura! object must be seen in its context. A stuffed animai is no longer enough. It must be seen in its environment and the environment must be recreated in the museum. In order to do this, just as in the sixteenth century, the scientist needed to rely on an artist, to whom he could entrust the illu­sionary faithful reproduction of the natura] environ­ments of the diorama. Nowadays many of these patiently reconstructed scenes reproduce natura! envi­ronments which urban and industriai development have disturbed. The national museums of the nineteenth century were not only advanced centers of research and instruments of technical and scientific education but also powerful symbols of the state and of science. Their celebration of national scientific genius, at the expense of a supra­national an d collaborati ve approach to science, con­tributed to the nationalist rhetoric, thus determining the symbolic transfer of prestige from the prince to the nation.