Page 51 - La Naturaleza como inspiración

Cartela de la carpeta de dibujos de hongos
de la colección Van Berkhey, s. xviii. Colección Van Berkhey, Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico, csic, Madrid.
Titelkaart van de map met tekeningen van schimmels uit het collectie van Van Berkhey, xviiide eeuw. Van Berkhey collectie,
Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico, csic, Madrid.
Card from mushroom drawings folder in
Van Berkhey Collection, 18th century. Van Berkhey Collection, Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico, csic, Madrid.
This is one of the few examples of graphic ma- terials preserved in the archives of the Real Jardín Botánico and dating from an early period in its his- tory. It is organised according to the pre-Linnaean classification of Adriaan van Royen (Leiden, 1704– 1779), one of the principal Leiden botanists in the mid-18th century. In his Florae Leydensis Pro- dromus,9 a catalogue of plants cultivated in the ex- traordinary Botanical Garden of Leiden, the plants were arranged into 20 classes, with the definition of each including complex combinations of diverse characteristics: the habitat, type of flower and form. Van Berkhey wanted pictures of species from all the classes used by Van Royen. Each illustration in- cluded in his collection was accompanied by a name: a sentence describing its essence.
The illustrations were arranged in folders, each with a card stating the class and the name of the family to which the drawings and engravings in the folder belonged, grouped by genus and species.
Some of the drawings listed in the auction cata- logue were made by renowned 17th- and 18th-centu- ry botanical artists from various European countries. There are 40 drawings from Germany by G.D. Ehret (Heidelberg, 1708–1770), M.S. Merian (Frankfurt, 1647– Amsterdam, 1717) and J.W. Weinmann (Gardelegen, 1683–1741); 227 drawings from the Netherlands by J. l’Admiraal (1700–1770), known for making the first four-colour prints with metal plates;
J. Baster (1711–1775), botanist and illustrator of North American plants sent to P. Collinson in England; J. le Francq van Berkhey; P. Hermann (1640–1695); J. van Huysum (circa 1687–1740); P. Knogh (1737–1802), the perfection of whose drawings is highlighted in the catalogue; V. van der Vinne (Haarlem, 1736–1811) and A. Withoos (Amersfoort 1663–Hoorn 1719?), to- gether with six drawings from England by P. Collin- son (1694–1768), 14 drawings from China; and 175 anonymous drawings.
The prints are very diverse in origin: some are Danish, such as the 20 intaglio prints made by P. Haas for the Icones rerum naturalium by Pehr Forsskål; oth- ers are Dutch, such as the prints by J. Commelyn (1629–1692), A. Delfos (1731–1820), P. Hermann, P. Knogh, J. and Noah van der Meer (1745-1792), J. Nieuhof (1618–1672) and A. Seba (Eetzel, Friesland, 1665–Amsterdam, 1736) and the 39 by H. Boerhaave (1668–1738) from the Index alter plantarum quae in horto academico Lugduni Batavorum aluntur; there are also English prints by R. Furber; and many Ger- man examples such as the nature prints made by J.M. Seligman (1720–1762) for Die Nahrungsgefäse in den Blättern der Bäume (Nuremberg, 1748) and Collectio Variarum Plantarum, proprio sicceo coloratarum & ipsis foliolis impressarum. Secundum Artem. Leibknegt [...].10 Those of German provenance also include noteworthy works such as the 44 mezzotint prints from Phytanthoza iconographia (1737–1745), the first