Page 53 - La Naturaleza como inspiración

the number of pieces assembled and in its careful presentation. Although he pointed out that the col- lection was unfinished, the part referring to insects is fairly complete.14 It includes nearly 2,000 plates of vertebrates and more than 2,500 of invertebrates (mainly insects and molluscs).
Berkhey arranged the zoological illustrations into Linnaeus’s six classes that feature in the cata- logue and divided each class in turn into orders, genera and species. He classified 4,628 drawings and engravings in this way. He assigned the remain- ing illustrations, as many as 2,675, to complemen- tary series and appendices which he included with- in each class.
The first class corresponds to Mammalia and be- gins with illustrations of the human anatomy. It in- cludes the genera Primates, Bruta, Ferae, Glires, Pecora and Bellua. It is followed by the heading Effi- gies ad Mammalia pertinentia which corresponds to 14 folders, two containing a broad variety of engrav- ings of people, their customs and manner of dress, plans and views of cities and the other 12 featuring engravings of animals, depicted singly or in groups,
Johannes Le Francq van Berkhey, Trajes holandeses [antes de 1785]. 51 Colección Van Berkhey, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
Johannes Le Francq van Berkhey, Nederlandse Klederdracht [voor 1785]. Van Berkhey collectie, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
Johannes Le Francq van Berkhey, Dutch Dress [prior to 1785]. Van Berkhey Collection, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
made by great masters such as A. Dürer, W. Hollar, A. Tempesta, M. G. Bruger and S. della Bella.
The second class, birds, is illustrated by 569 plates in the part that is systematically arranged and a further 354 that are classified as complementary, among them 15 drawings of birds by M. Hondekoeter. Twenty-three mounted specimens are included.
The class Amphibia consists of 298 systemati- cally arranged pieces, 17 that are complementary and 17 mounted specimens or snake skins.
The fourth class represented is Pisces and in- cludes 275 illustrations in the systematic part, 78 complementary illustrations, 145 fish mounted by van Berkhey and a manuscript by L.T. Gronovius.
The class Insecta includes 409 plates as intro- ductory examples, 1,187 illustrations arranged sys- tematically and 341 which are complementary. This section also features 6 printed works and a manu- script by J. l’Admiraal.
The last class included in the catalogue, Vermes, is composed of 1,511 plates arranged systematically, 228 complementary plates and 98 mounted specimens.
Distributed among the different classes are nu- merous engravings of mammals, birds, fish and in- sects, examples arranged in groups forming country- side, hunting or fishing scenes, all of very high artistic quality and held in the archives of the mncn.
All in all, the zoological and human anatomy portion of the collection totals 1,275 drawings, often referred to in the auction catalogue as “ad vivum delineatus”. In general there is only one drawing per species, executed with such realism and detail that