Dieren A.B.C. / histoire naturelle alphabetique 1800 - 1833

Curator: This print, "Dieren A.B.C. / histoire naturelle alphabetique", dating from around 1800-1833, presents an alphabet of animals, rendered in delicate engravings by Philippus Jacobus Brepols. Editor: My first thought? Charming! It's got a slightly whimsical, almost dreamlike quality to it. There is a sense of storybook wonder, but perhaps also, on a closer look, hints of a less innocent view of the animal world. Curator: Exactly. These aren’t just neutral depictions. Brepols places these animals, particularly in conjunction with text, in a complicated context, likely as social or moral symbols of the era. For example, is that “Assen,” or Donkey, just an animal, or a signifier for the lower class? Editor: Oh, fascinating! You're drawing attention to the potential loaded cultural connotations these animals had at the time. I’m particularly drawn to the lion-seal hybrid in the center; a bestial woman figure reminiscent of old folklore. But there’s also the boar—he’s a direct connection to classical imagery of masculine courage and the hunt, for example. Curator: And those choices always point back to a power dynamic, both literal and societal. The image is very self-aware of social hierarchy. What does it mean that the peacock gets its own pedestal? Who determines which animal sits enthroned? The choices illuminate beliefs of the period that the artwork participates in whether critically or affirmatively. Editor: The limited but precise detail Brepols uses to define each creature really invites consideration of how animals were viewed then. It suggests an attempt to catalogue the natural world according to the symbolic order. Almost like a child’s book concealing very complex, coded messaging. Curator: A fascinating point—because Brepols would have to also have intended for these drawings to travel across national borders and to be translated in some sense, both textually, of course, and in images that also carried national valences, too. Editor: Absolutely, a dialogue on the intersection of visual tradition and cultural identity—how each form both defines and critiques the other. A tiny alphabet but a world of social information, ready for deconstruction! Curator: Well said, bringing into view the complex intermingling of symbols and societal values, demonstrating just how revealing images can be when situated in their time and beyond.