Natuurhistorische ensemble (nr. 13) 1596 - 1610

Elias Verhulst created this page from a nature book at the turn of the 17th century using watercolor on paper. During this period of intense exploration and colonization, detailed visual records of the natural world became status symbols for wealthy Europeans. But consider what it meant to claim ownership over nature and its images. Insects, flowers, and fruit are meticulously rendered, each specimen pinned to the page as if to possess it. The disembodied quality evokes the power dynamics inherent in scientific classification and display. How does the act of naming and categorizing shape our understanding of the environment? The watercolor's delicate beauty belies this act of collecting and ordering the natural world. Look closely at the stag beetle, the moth, the fig. Think about the labor required to depict these tiny miracles. And then consider what is lost when the living world is reduced to a specimen.