Nachtvlinders 1762

This is "Nachtvlinders," a delicate print made by Christiaan Sepp sometime in the mid-18th century. Sepp was working during a period when the Enlightenment’s passion for scientific classification was blooming, yet society was rigidly hierarchical. Consider the act of observation in this print. Sepp meticulously records the stages of a moth's life cycle. This act embodies the Enlightenment’s faith in empirical observation, but it also subtly mirrors the social order. Just as scientists categorized the natural world, society categorized people, assigning them roles and expectations based on gender, race, and class. Think about who had the luxury to study moths, to contemplate transformation, and to produce detailed prints like this? It was a privilege of the wealthy. Sepp’s art reflects both a genuine fascination with the natural world and the social structures that enabled his pursuit of knowledge. It asks us to consider the social dimensions of what we choose to observe, and how we classify the world around us.