From Possessing Nature by Paula Findlen
From Possessing Nature by Paula Findlen |
Ulisse Aldrovandi was a true Renaissance man, living between the lifetimes of da Vinci and Galileo, and rooted in both classical and religious sensibilities. Considering himself a latter-day Aristotle, Aldrovandi was named after one of the two protagonists of The Iliad and The Odyssey. (His brother was named Achille after the other protagonist.) Aldrovandi was also a cousin of Pope Gregory VIII, and when the new pope assumed his position, a "fearsome" dragon appeared in the countryside in Bologna. Aldrovandi inspected its alleged carcass and (remarkably) called it a good omen for the new pontiff. A lifelong dragon aficionado, he kept in his collections the remains of another, diminutive dragon, only a little larger than a human hand. It is still on display today, in the Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna.
As a young man, Aldrovandi studied law, philosophy, logic and mathematics at the universities of Bologna and Padua. He completed his degree in medicine and philosophy in 1553, and began teaching logic the following year. By then, however, he had developed a strong interest in natural history, and eventually turned to teaching that subject. From a monetary perspective, it was a bad move; he would have commanded a much higher salary by sticking with medicine. The naturalist likely hoped for his cousin's papal patronage, but the pontiff's financial support was sporadic (Aldrovandi was sometimes suspected of heresy), and despite his outstanding reputation, he often had to seek patronage elsewhere. Fortunately, Aldrovandi wasn't motivated by money so much as a desire to establish natural history as a legitimate field of study. In this he was a dazzling success.
Aldrovandi established one of the most acclaimed curiosity cabinets in European history, containing more than 18,000 specimens, according to his written description from 1595. A friend once wrote him, "[Signor Contestabile] told me that he had seen so many and various things in your studio that he remained stupefied. One can believe that there is no studio similar in all of Europe." Ever aware of his own achievements, Aldrovandi once described a young friend's new garden as, "planted with so many exotic plants, which I at one time or another have seen, had, described, and depicted."
Of the visitors to Aldrovandi's museum, only the cream of the crop were asked to sign his "book of friends," yet over the years he collected more than 1,500 signatures. Relying mostly on objects in his collection, Aldrovandi wrote roughly 400 volumes on natural history. Getting the work published was tougher, though, and only a handful of his books were printed during his lifetime. When he bequeathed his collection to the Senate of Bologna, Aldrovandi stipulated that the senate should continue publishing his work. Fortunately, many of his manuscripts were published more or less how he envisioned. But while Aldrovandi was prolific, he wasn't always accurate, and many of his descriptions and illustrations were improbable at best. Like many of his time, he believed nature capable of creating her own works of art.
When he was young, Aldrovandi embarked on a botanizing expedition in the Sibylline Mountains of Italy, in 1557, the first such expedition of its kind in Europe. Not surprisingly, he desperately wanted to see the New World, too, but by the time he was offered the opportunity, he was 65. He thought himself too old and frail to survive the trip, but he might have made it after all; he lived nearly 20 more years. When he did travel in later years, he was accompanied by assistants, including an artist to draw the sights and a secretary to record his observations.
For more information:
Possessing Nature by Paula Findlen
Merchants and Marvels edited by Smith and Findlen
Cultures of Natural History edited by Jardine, Secord and Spary
The Science of Describing by Brian W. Ogilvie
From Private to Public edited by Marco Beretta
Fossils: Evidence of Vanished Worlds by Yvette Gayrard-Valy
The Eye of the Lynx by David Freedberg
Cabinets of Curiosities by Patrick Mauriès
The Lore of the Unicorn by Odell Shepard
The Naming of Names by Anna Pavord
The Great Naturalists edited by Robert Huxley
The Lure of Antiquity and the Cult of the Machine by Horst Bredekamp
Renaissance Beasts edited by Erica Fudge
"Foils and Fakes: The Hydra in Giambattista Basile's Dragon-Slayer Tale, 'Lo mercante'" by Suzanne Magnanini in Marvels & Tales Magazine, 2005
Narrative text and graphic design © by Michon Scott - Updated November 3, 2007