Exploring the Oak Spring Garden Library collection through the work of Maria Sibylla Merian and Mark Catesby
Overview: The pioneer artist naturalists Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647-1717) and Mark Catesby (English, 1683-1749) hold an important place in the intersection of art and science. This course will focus on their work as part of the rich holdings of botanical and other natural history art, artefacts and books which Mrs Rachel Mellon (1910-2014) collected over many years and housed in her unique library at Oak Spring. During this intensive course, we will investigate a wide range of botanical, entomological and ornithological books, drawings, and other material to establish the context for Merian and Catesby’s pivotal work. We will examine and discuss first edition copies of Merian’s Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705) and Catesby’sNatural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1731-1747), as well as later works influenced by these ground-breaking publications.
Teaching will take place through talks and workshops led by Merian expert, Kay Etheridge, and Catesby expert, Henrietta McBurney, assisted by Oak Spring Garden Library’s Head Librarian, Tony Willis. A hands-on drawing and print-making exercise will be included in the course.
A required short reading list will be sent in advance of the course; this will include sections of Kay and Henrietta’s books on Merian and Catesby (see biographies below).
Educational aims: The course will focus on the work of Merian and Catesby, emphasizing the role that illustrations of the natural world play in the history of science and visual culture. Examining different techniques, methods, observational and pictorial practices, participants will look at the multiple ways that natural history description and illustration were used in the development and production of art and scientific knowledge.
Another aim of the course is to explore the ways that different kinds of knowledge from the Oak Spring collections were built up by Mrs Mellon over a lifetime can inspire and inform. Through this experience it is hoped new channels of research will open up to scholars from a variety of disciplines.
Learning outcomes: By the end of the course participants will be familiar with the history and work of Maria Sibylla Merian and Mark Catesby. By studying the Merian and Catesby holdings and the work of others in the Oak Spring Garden Library’s collections, participants will be able to:
Recognize stylistic trends in natural history imagery
Analyze the status of original works (e.g. items for curiosity cabinets, still lives, scientific records, models for printed plates)
Critically evaluate the concept of ad vivum and ‘authoritative’ likenesses
Identify different print-making technologies (and the application of color) used for natural history illustration, assess the consequences for scientific and aesthetic content, and recognize publishing strategies and audiences for natural history books
Identify different media and supports used in natural history illustration (e.g. graphite, chalk, pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, bodycolor; vellum, paper, wood panel)
Convener biographies:
Kay Etheridge is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Gettysburg College, PA. Her publications in physiology and ecology include studies on tropical bats, manatees, lizards, and salamanders. Her current scholarship centers on the integration of natural history images and the history of biology. Her most recent publications examine the biological contributions of naturalist/artist Maria Sibylla Merian, including The Flowering of Ecology: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book (Brill, 2021) and an edited collection, Maria Sibylla Merian. Changing the Nature of Art and Science (Lannoo, 2022). She is an editor of the Brill book series, Emergence of Natural History (https://brill.com/view/serial/ENH).
Henrietta McBurney, MVO, FSA, FLS. Henrietta is an art historian and curator. She worked as curator of prints and drawings in the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, between 1983 and 2002, and subsequently as keeper of fine and decorative art at Eton College, Windsor; the Garrick Club, London; and Newnham College, Cambridge. She now works free-lance for Cambridge colleges and as a lecturer. During summer 2022 she convened and taught a course at London Rare Book School (University of London) with book historian Roger Gaskell, on ‘The Art of Natural History Illustration’ https://ies.sas.ac.uk/events/lrbs-art-and-science-art-natural-history-illustration. She has published catalogues raisonné on the Florilegium of Alexander Marshal (2000) and the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo (2017); her most recent publication is Illuminating Natural History. The Art and Science of Mark Catesby (Yale, 2021). She has contributed a chapter on Merian and Catesby to Van Delft & Etheridge et al, Maria Sibylla Merian. Changing the Nature of Art and Science (Lannoo, 2022)
Internal lecturer:
Sir Peter Crane, President, Oak Spring Garden Foundation: has been President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation since 2016. He will present a lecture on John Brady Blake (1745-1773), a supercargo for the British East India Company who prepared a set of detailed illustrations of the plants he encountered in Canton and Macao. These illustrations are unpublished but are now in the collections of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. Peter Crane was at the Field Museum in Chicago from 1982-1999, and from 1995-1999 was Director with overall responsibility for the Museum’s anthropological, biological, and geological collections. From 1999-2006 he was Director and Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, before being appointed University Professor at The University of Chicago. In 2009 he was recruited as the Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now Yale School of the Environment). Peter Crane was knighted in the UK for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. With an extensive list of published books and scientific papers he is a member of several national science academies and the recipient of honorary degrees from universities in the UK and US, including an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in the UK. He received the International Prize for Biology in 2014.
About OSGF: The Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) is a philanthropic foundation based at the former primary estate of the late Paul and Rachel Mellon, who were major philanthropists in the U.S. of the arts, humanities, and sciences in the second half of the twentieth century. OSGF is located in the northern Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains region (ca. one-hour drive from Washington, D.C.). Led by Sir Peter Crane, the Foundation’s inaugural President, OSGF provides short courses and supports residencies for artists and scholars. It is becoming a new center of stimulation of all things botanical, from fundamental research in plant evolution and conservation, to horticultural and plant conservation practice, to the history and art of plants gardens and landscapes.
Accommodation and Travel Information: Participants will be accommodated with all meals and private lodging on site at Oak Spring. They will need to bring proper clothing for being in the field (a suggested list will be provided after acceptance).
Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel to the Washington, D.C. area. If flying, please book flights to Dulles International Airport. Closer to the start date, our Programs Team will assist with coordinating travel arrangements to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation site, as necessary.
Dates and Duration: The course runs for four (4) days beginning at 4:00pm on Monday, March 27, 2023 and ending at 12:00pm on Friday, March 31, 2023.
Course Fee: $850 (includes course content and all meals and accommodations)
Fee Waivers are available for this course: two (2) full fee waivers of $850 and two (2) partial fee waivers of $425
Selection Process: Application review will be done by Kay Ethridge, Henrietta McBurney, and OSGF staff.
Application Deadline: Thursday, December 15th, 2022