Echoes of Aldrovandi : notes on an illustrated album from the Natural History Museum in London

Abstract

This work focuses on an early modern album of bird illustrations currently held at the Natural History Museum in London: Raccolta di Uccelli fatta da Giovanni da Udine Scolare di Raffaelle Sanzio da Urbino (88 f B). Particular attention is paid to the case of two colour illustrations of the bird of paradise, modelled after two printed images published by Ulisse Aldrovandi in his Ornithologiae (1599). The aim is to discuss the status of this type of albums –beautifully-illustrated and often-anonymous compilations of naturalist imagery– as source-materials for the scholar of early modern culture. What are the main challenges of studying such objects and their content? What do these sources reveal about the interactions between naturalists, image-makers and collectors in the early modern period? What can we learn from them in relation to processes like the circulation of images, the production of copies and the accumulation and display of natural knowledge?