The Beginnings of Plant Ecology in the Renaissance: Collection of Watercolours LIBRI PICTURATI (A18-30) (2005)
Zemanek, Alicja (Author)
Zemanek, Bogdan (Author)
Savoia, A. Ubrizsy (Author)
Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki
Volume: 50, no. 3-4
Issue: 3 - 4
Pages: 87-122
Edition Details: [Translated title.] In Polish.
Language: Polish
During the Renaissance ecological thinking emerged both in printed scientific works as well as in pictures showing plants against the background of their natural environment. A unique source to the history of plant ecology is the 'Libri picturati' (A18-30) collection of watercolours kept at the Jagiellonian Library in Cracow (Poland). This collection consists of 13 volumes of plant pictures, and contains c.1800 specimens (over 1000 taxa) coming mainly from north-western Europe, Mediterranean region, and also from Asia and America. Some of these pictures match with woodcuts in various works by the famous Flemish botanists, mainly Charles de L'Écluse (Carolus Clusius) (1526-1609). Both illustrations of plants and their short annotations provide a synthetic review of 'the ecology of the Renaissance period'. The paper deals with ecological issues which could be found in the collection, such as: information on the climatic and edaphic requirements of some species, and on plants occurring in various habitats (such as aquatic and bog plants; plants of banks of inland water courses and wet meadows; halophytes occurring along sea coasts; plants of forests, meadows, edges of forests; plants of mountains; and anthropogenic plants - ruderal and segetal). For many species, information is given about them being cultivated in gardens and fields, and on some requirements of cultivation. In addition, phenological data is provided, mainly about flowering periods including the flowering of alien species acclimatized in north-western Europe. Many facts presented in the collection are probably the first accounts ever in the world, e.g. the information on halophyte communities of sea coasts, including illustrations of species and description of habitats which were described in terms of plant sociology only in the 20th century. Also provided are correct assessments of the way of life of parasitic flowering plants. The level of ecological knowledge contained in pictures and descriptions of the 'Libri picturati', when assessed against the background of recent knowledge of the topic, must be regarded as very high. In the collection, one must note a striking absence of superstitions and magic, so often presented in the Renaissance treatises on plants (even the beliefs in magic attached to 'the rose of Jericho' - 'Anastatica hierochuntica', are discarded as untrue by applying 'an experimental test'). The vast array of ecological issues contained in the collection, illustrates well the process of the emergence of modern knowledge about the relationships between plants and the environment. It seems that such a high level of knowledge resulted not only from the theoretical research interest of the creators of the collection, but also from the searches in the field aimed at finding new cultivated plants.
...MoreDescription On the ecological issues illustrated in this collection of images, dealing with such things as climatic and edaphic requirements of species and different habitats of plants.
Similar Citations
Article
Zemanek, Alicja;
Savoia, Andrea Ubrizsy;
Zemanek, Bogdan;
(2007)
The Beginnings of Ecological Thought in the Renaissance: An Account Based on the Libri picturati A. 18--30 Collection of Water-Colours
(/isis/citation/CBB000771963/)
Book
Paul Henderson;
(2015)
James Sowerby: The Enlightenment's Natural Historian
(/isis/citation/CBB129548231/)
Article
Törnvall, Gunilla;
(2010)
Lindman och krutbrännaren. Om färgsättningen av en orkidé
(/isis/citation/CBB001220317/)
Book
Armstrong, Carol;
Zegher, Catherine de;
(2004)
Ocean Flowers: Impressions from Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB000651124/)
Chapter
Kärin Nickelsen;
(2018)
Image and Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB318607436/)
Book
Nickelsen, Kärin;
(2006)
Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations
(/isis/citation/CBB000774358/)
Book
Rix, Martyn;
(2013)
The Golden Age of Botanical Art
(/isis/citation/CBB001213149/)
Article
Sterckx, Roel;
(2009)
The Limits of Illustration: Animalia and Pharmacopeia from Guo Pu to Bencao Gangmu
(/isis/citation/CBB001020981/)
Article
F. Giallombardo;
T. R. van Andel;
(2019)
Paolo Boccone and the visual communication of pre-Linnean botany. A comparison between his Leiden herbarium, Paris autoprint and published Icones (1674)
(/isis/citation/CBB372429723/)
Article
Bleichmar, Daniela;
(2009)
Visible Empire: Scientific Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment
(/isis/citation/CBB001022550/)
Article
Bleichmar, Daniela;
(2008)
Resumen de El imperio visible: la mirada experta y la imagen en las expediciones científicas de la Ilustración
(/isis/citation/CBB001022555/)
Article
Bruhn, Matthias;
(2011)
Life Lines: An Art History of Biological Research around 1800
(/isis/citation/CBB001221525/)
Book
Meroi, Fabrizio;
Pogliano, Claudio;
(2001)
Immagini per conoscere: Dal Rinascimento alla rivoluzione scientifica
(/isis/citation/CBB000501189/)
Article
Raphael, Renée;
(2013)
Teaching through Diagrams
(/isis/citation/CBB001253161/)
Article
Kusukawa, Sachiko;
(2011)
Patron's Review: The Role of Images in the Development of Renaissance Natural History
(/isis/citation/CBB001230614/)
Article
Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia;
(2001)
The study of the natural sciences and botanical and zoological illustration in Tuscany under the Medicis from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB000100698/)
Book
Giles Sparrow;
Martin Rees;
(2022)
Phenomena: Doppelmayr’s Celestial Atlas
(/isis/citation/CBB346579688/)
Article
Bernardoni, Andrea;
(2009)
The Biography of a Technical Picture: Biringuccio's Boring Machine Woodcut
(/isis/citation/CBB000933734/)
Article
Fischel, Angela;
(2010)
Collections, Images and Form in Sixteenth-Century Natural History: The Case of Conrad Gessner
(/isis/citation/CBB001023396/)
Article
Barboni, Valeria;
(2011)
La traduzione in immagine della Naturalis Historia: le Xilografie dell'edizione veneziana del 1513 stampata da Melchiorre Sessa
(/isis/citation/CBB001220883/)
Be the first to comment!