DOI: 10.36871/hon.202102009
Authors
O. Yu. Kulakova
Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts named after I. E. Repin, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Abstract
The article explores the communication and mutual influence of botanists and artists who lived in Germany, Switzerland and Holland from the second half of the XVIth to the beginning of the XVIIth century. The choice of the areal and period of study is due to the active communication among scientists on the reform of scientific knowledge, in particular botany. The new demands of scientists, who expected artists to help them visualize the morphological features of plants, clashed with a painting tradition that changed slowly and gradually. Eventually, by the early the XVIIth century, an understanding was achieved. Botanical illustrations acquired its main artistic features: clarity of contour, minimum chiaroscuro and muted colour. At the same time, painters who worked in the genre of flower still life in Holland at the beginning of the XVIIth century were also significantly influenced by botanists. Several features appeared in the early Dutch still life: gathering of plants blooming in different months into one bouquet, collage method, composing a bouquet like a "table" of the Kunstkammer, uniform illumination, absence of space depth and crossing of objects, exotic, rare and expensive flowers, especially tulips.
Keywords
Dutch florals still life, botanical illustration, Leonhart Fuchs, Carolus Clusius, Jacob de Gheyn II, Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder
