Page 17 - La Naturaleza como inspiración

In 1771 the recently established Royal Cabinet of Natural History already housed the collection that was sold to King Charles III by its first director: Pedro Franco Dávila, a Spaniard born in Guayaquil (now Ecuador). Years before coming to Spain, Dávi- la had decided to take up residence in Paris after several failed attempts to return to his native city. It was precisely this thwarted return that secured Spain its place in the European history of Natural History on an equal footing with other kingdoms of the day.
Prominent among the materials that began steadily arriving at the Royal Cabinet to enrich its holdings are the collection of fish, crustaceans and furniture acquired from the Havana-based Portu- guese Antonio Parra and the collection of illustra- tions assembled by the Dutchman Johannes le Franq van Berkhey (1729–1812). The latter collec- tion was acquired in 1785 at a public sale in Amster- dam for the Royal Cabinet of Natural History on the instructions of Charles III. When it arrived in Madrid uncatalogued, the director of the Royal Cabinet, Pedro Franco Dávila, compiled a manu- script inventory of the collection featuring 1,823 drawings (in watercolour and graphite, and coloured tracings) and 5,859 engravings. Regrettably, in re- cent years this collection has suffered thefts during what have been hard times for the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, although fortunately their consequences have not been serious and all the missing items have now been recovered.
Van Berkhey, a physician, naturalist and draughtsman, also made hundreds of the drawings in his collection which, although chiefly zoological,
also included plants, minerals, rocks and fossils. These drawings are of considerable artistic and sci- entific value as he aimed to represent as many spe- cies as possible, systematically ordered. The collec- tion of plant illustrations is now housed in the Real Jardín Botánico and the zoological drawings are in the care of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Natu- rales. Both the catalogue and the inscriptions on the drawings or supports feature the name of the spe- cies according to the Linnaean nomenclature and system, which van Berkhey expands or corrects on occasions.
Most of the drawings from the collection of Johannes le Franq van Berkhey are unsigned and undated. In contrast, the makers are usually iden- tified in the catalogue he compiled in 1784 for the sale in Amsterdam. More than 40 Dutch draughts- men of the 17th and 18th centuries have thus been identified in the zoological holdings, although most of the drawings are by van Berkhey himself and Jacob l’Admiraal. Other artists who have been identified are Beeldemaker, Holstein, Hengsten- berg and Dürer. Mention should also be made of the numerous anonymous drawings which feature as such in the original catalogue or whose author- ship is difficult to ascertain today. Birds and in- sects are the best represented groups in the entire collection.
Altogether, the Van Berkhey Collection is a source of pride to our Museum; we therefore be- lieve that the opportunity to show a significant part of it in this exhibition will help give visibility to a set of works of outstanding value that have regrettably remained concealed to the public for too long.
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