Amazing Rare Things

showcases the work of men and women whose artistic investigations played an important role in the advancement of our species' understanding of the world around us

Article by Jay Shukla | 10 Jun 2007
Curated with help from David Attenborough, this show – subtitled The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery – has been assembled from the collections of the Royal Library to showcase the work of men and women whose artistic investigations played an important role in the advancement of our species' understanding of the world around us.

The show deploys its big guns early, greeting the viewer with a series of studies by Leonardo Da Vinci – perhaps one of the most inquisitive individuals to have ever lived. His drawing of a plant know as the Star of Bethlehem seems to be imbued with more life and movement than a raging sea, and communicates vividly the sense of awe he felt towards the natural world. Rather than merely chalking (excuse the pun) its magnificence up to divine creation however, Da Vinci sought to unlock its very secrets – as seen in his study of the uterus of a gravid cow; the artist's own copious scientific notes giving the image an arresting graphic impact.

The series of works commissioned by 17th century antiquarian Cassiano dal Pozzo serve as an interesting contrast these pieces, being rather lumpen in comparison – although the study of an erect sloth (a spectacle not seen in nature) has an endearingly clumsy Chewbacca quality. The highlight of the show for me was the hyper-vivid work of Maria Sibylla Merian, whose combination of an almost hallucinogenic, bold graphic style, together with her fanciful, implausible compositions (tarantulas don't actually engage hummingbirds in mortal combat) spoke most strongly to me of the teeming, compulsive drama of each species' daily fight for survival. [Jay Shukla]
Queen's Gallery, Edinburgh. £5 (£4.50) http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=380