Albertus Seba's collection of natural specimens and its pictorial inventory
Excerpt from the book 'Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities'
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In Amsterdam, Seba was ideally situated for starting such a collection of natural curios. The city on the Amstel river was still the flourishing centre of international maritime trade that it had first become in the 17th century.
From cabinets of curiosities to collections of natural specimens
Under the influence of humanist scholarship, around 1500 there began to appear – initially at the courts of Italian princes – collections of a special type, known as Kunstkammern or cabinets of curiosities.
Very different things found their way into these collections: antique objects such as figurines and coins, artistically crafted artefacts, scientific instruments, books, pictures, items from faraway lands, and for the first time on a larger scale, natural specimens. One particularly large cabinet – built upon older precursors – was established by Francesco I de` Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, around 1570 in Florence. Early examples north of the Alps are the collections of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich (from 1563) and the Tyrolean archduke Ferdinand at Ambras castle (from 1573). The cabinet of curiosities that Emperor Rudolph II established around 1600 in Prague, which filled many rooms, gained legendary fame. In emulation of their princes, members of the middle classes also began compiling private collections in the second half of the 16th century. In order to be able to display a collection artistically while protecting it from dirt and damage, in the 16th and 17th century a new piece of furniture was specially developed: the collector`s cabinet.
The multifarious and disparate objects united in early encyclopaedic collections appeared to later generations as confused cabinets of curiosities.
In a world becoming ever more complex with each new geographic and scientific discovery, the ideal cabinet of curiosities constituted an attempt to produce an overall picture of this world, the cosmos. Within its limited space, the cabinet of curiosities presented a microcosm, reproducing the general picture, the macrocosm, on a reduced scale. The early cabinets of curiosities thereby spotlighted areas on the fringes of the known world. These included medical "curiosities" such as so-called freaks of nature, as well as handicrafts and natural specimens from foreign lands, and many other rarities which in Europe provoked astonishment and raised questions. The aim was to bring together – at least in representative form – the most complete collection possible of all things knowable and worth knowing, to record them and thus to make them easier to grasp. The arrangement of the various objects in a room – some laid out on tabletops – gave the viewer the opportunity to relate the individual objects to one another visually and to draw connections between them.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
In Amsterdam, Seba was ideally situated for starting such a collection of natural curios. The city on the Amstel river was still the flourishing centre of international maritime trade that it had first become in the 17th century.
From cabinets of curiosities to collections of natural specimens
Under the influence of humanist scholarship, around 1500 there began to appear – initially at the courts of Italian princes – collections of a special type, known as Kunstkammern or cabinets of curiosities.
Very different things found their way into these collections: antique objects such as figurines and coins, artistically crafted artefacts, scientific instruments, books, pictures, items from faraway lands, and for the first time on a larger scale, natural specimens. One particularly large cabinet – built upon older precursors – was established by Francesco I de` Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, around 1570 in Florence. Early examples north of the Alps are the collections of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria in Munich (from 1563) and the Tyrolean archduke Ferdinand at Ambras castle (from 1573). The cabinet of curiosities that Emperor Rudolph II established around 1600 in Prague, which filled many rooms, gained legendary fame. In emulation of their princes, members of the middle classes also began compiling private collections in the second half of the 16th century. In order to be able to display a collection artistically while protecting it from dirt and damage, in the 16th and 17th century a new piece of furniture was specially developed: the collector`s cabinet.
The multifarious and disparate objects united in early encyclopaedic collections appeared to later generations as confused cabinets of curiosities.
In a world becoming ever more complex with each new geographic and scientific discovery, the ideal cabinet of curiosities constituted an attempt to produce an overall picture of this world, the cosmos. Within its limited space, the cabinet of curiosities presented a microcosm, reproducing the general picture, the macrocosm, on a reduced scale. The early cabinets of curiosities thereby spotlighted areas on the fringes of the known world. These included medical "curiosities" such as so-called freaks of nature, as well as handicrafts and natural specimens from foreign lands, and many other rarities which in Europe provoked astonishment and raised questions. The aim was to bring together – at least in representative form – the most complete collection possible of all things knowable and worth knowing, to record them and thus to make them easier to grasp. The arrangement of the various objects in a room – some laid out on tabletops – gave the viewer the opportunity to relate the individual objects to one another visually and to draw connections between them.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities
Hardcover, 29 x 44 cm (11.4 x 17.3 in.), 636 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities - One of the most prized natural history books of all time
Amstelaedami, Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios. & J. Wetstenium, & Gul. Smith. MDCCXXXIV (1734
Amstelaedami, Apud J. Wetstenium, & Gul. Smith, & Janssonio-Waesbergios. MDCCXXXV (1735)