Spotprent met een ooievaar en Buys Ballot, 1863 1863

"Spotprent met een ooievaar en Buys Ballot" (1863), a satirical lithograph by Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans, depicts a comical scene of a man, possibly the meteorologist Buys Ballot, being visited by a stork. The artwork comments on the unpredictability of weather, using the stork as a symbol of spring, implying that the arrival of the spring season contradicts the predictions of the scientist. This playful take on scientific authority reflects Crans's use of humor and satire in his work. The lithograph, with its detailed linework, captures the contrasting figures of the scientist and the stork, conveying a sense of the unexpected and the humorous.