Broadside with images of 36 birds 1860

Curator: So, what captures your attention about this *Broadside with images of 36 birds*, created by Juan Llorens in 1860? It’s a print, a drawing rendered in ink on paper. At the Met, no less. Editor: It feels… like a charming natural history chart. Thirty-six little worlds, each bird framed like a playing card. But the style, with the text descriptions beneath each bird... it feels so earnest. Almost naive. What do you see in it? What kind of world was Llorens imagining, do you think? Curator: Well, firstly, I think "copied from Natural History" is doing a lot of work here! These are… approximations, shall we say. But delightful ones! I see a world hungry for knowledge, packaged up neatly. Ukiyo-e prints were influencing imagery around the world at the time, bringing with them a love of line and detailed observation. This feels related somehow... like a folk-art cousin, perhaps? It makes me wonder who would have bought something like this... and why? Editor: Maybe teachers? Or people who loved birdwatching? A Victorian era birdwatcher with their notebook full of hastily sketched fowl might want this memento with slightly skewed results. The penguin looks a bit lost to me. It definitely needs the Antartic ice. Curator: (Laughing) Poor penguin! Indeed, who are these birds *for* if not the birds themselves, eh? Seriously, maybe it sparks curiosity. We know about Audubon prints and the ornithological record, but what about for our average Joes and Janes? Maybe these quirky birds spoke to regular folk about our relationship with our fellow creatures. Editor: True, true. It definitely makes me wonder what the public knew, or thought they knew, about these birds back then. So cool that one simple chart with birds brings me to the relationship between history and humor. Curator: Exactly. A reminder that knowledge is always a little bit… whimsical. It should set free what we knew.