Stinkdier before 1650

"Stinkdier," or "Skunk," was etched by Antonio Tempesta, an Italian artist, in the late 16th or early 17th century. During Tempesta’s time, the natural world was being explored and documented, often reflecting Europe’s expanding global presence. But there was a real tension in these depictions of animals which speak to a very human desire to catalogue and control the natural world. Here, the skunk is presented almost clinically. Its pose is artful, but perhaps meant to be informative. The landscape behind it is sparse, but this is offset by the skunk itself, whose fur is heavily detailed. Etchings like this were more than just scientific records; they reveal a desire to understand and categorize the world, to impose order on the wild. Consider how much our perception of animals is shaped by our own needs and anxieties. How do we, even now, project our human dramas onto the creatures around us?