Creatures of Wonder: Insects and small animals in early modern European art and studies of nature

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/63583

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Arts and Culture (MA)

Boyd, Avery (2018)

Creatures of Wonder: Insects and small animals in early modern European art and studies of nature

Master thesis | Arts and Culture (MA)

Over the early modern period Europe saw great change in its practices of the studies of nature as a result of the invention of the printing press, the opening up of the new world and trade systems, and the invention of the microscope. At the same time, artists began incorporating the bodies of insects and small animals into their works. Small animals and insects became their own major subjects of study for philosophers of nature and artists. In addition, the line between artist and philosopher of nature blurred, leading to artists and philosophers of nature collaborating over their findings. This thesis seeks to answer the question of how the changing ideas on small animals and insects in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries can be seen in the works of artists of the same period, and how did these works influence European naturalist views on small animals and insects.

spontaneous generation

cabinet miniature

wunderkammer

cabinet of wonder