Images of the Earth, Images of Man
65
In keeping with Daubenton’s survey of the variety of ways
and contexts in which the eighteenth century approached nature, the
plates on mineralogy are taken from a variety of sources. Some images were lifted from a growing body of literature on natural history
available to the general reading public, although such borrowing
sometimes gave little regard to the original context of the images used.
A plate which purports to show the “Glaciers de Bermina chez les
Grisons”, for example, was apparently drawn from the frontispiece of
Gottlieb Siegmund Gruvier’s Die Eisberge des Schweizerlandes
which in fact depicts the waterfalls at Staubbach, Lauterbrunnen.
12 If
works on natural history were a significant means by which the eighteenth century engaged with nature, a more direct approach is reflected
in the plates depicting volcanoes. Alongside growing scientific examination of volcanoes, a trip to Vesuvius was a key stop for Grand
Tourists, and volcanoes also occupied a central place in eighteenthcentury European painting, dramatic night-time explosions offering
artists the opportunity to use the contrast of light and shade to spectacular effect (fig. 3).
13 Eighteenth-century visitors to Italy often
bought paintings of Vesuvius and the Encyclopédie plates depicting
the volcano’s eruptions are highly reminiscent of such images. Other
Encyclopédie images, however, reflect a more scientifically motivated
interest: in 1766 the artist Jean-Jacques de Boissieu, accompanying
the duc de la Rochefoucauld and the geologist Nicolas Desmarest on a
tour of Italy and France, took a number of drawings of Auvergne rock
formations which he later submitted to Diderot for inclusion in the
Encyclopédie (fig. 4).
14 These images, with their precise observation
of the rocks’ detail, display a concern for a scientific, above and
___________________________
12 “Histoire naturelle, Règne mineral, Cinquième collection, Glaciers, Planche II”,
XXVII; Pinault, “Diderot et les illustrateurs”, p. 25.
13 Pinault, The Painter as Naturalist: From Dürer to Redoute, trans. by Philip Sturgess (Paris: Flammarion, 1991), pp. 255-59; Ian Jenkins and Kim Sloan, Vases and
Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and His Collection (London: British Museum Press,
1996); Barbara Maria Stafford, Voyage Into Substance: Art, Science, Nature, and the
Illustrated Travel Account, 1760-1840 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1984), p.
249. Stafford argues that there was a clear difference between such images motivated
by “an ostentatious display of artistic effects” and the studies undertaken by amateur
and professional volcanologists.
14 Marie-Félicie Perez and Madeleine Pinault, “Three New Drawings by Jean-Jacques
de Boissieu”, Master Drawings, 23-24 (1987), 389-95 (pp. 389-90); Pinault, The
Painter as Naturalist, p. 255.
65
In keeping with Daubenton’s survey of the variety of ways
and contexts in which the eighteenth century approached nature, the
plates on mineralogy are taken from a variety of sources. Some images were lifted from a growing body of literature on natural history
available to the general reading public, although such borrowing
sometimes gave little regard to the original context of the images used.
A plate which purports to show the “Glaciers de Bermina chez les
Grisons”, for example, was apparently drawn from the frontispiece of
Gottlieb Siegmund Gruvier’s Die Eisberge des Schweizerlandes
which in fact depicts the waterfalls at Staubbach, Lauterbrunnen.
12 If
works on natural history were a significant means by which the eighteenth century engaged with nature, a more direct approach is reflected
in the plates depicting volcanoes. Alongside growing scientific examination of volcanoes, a trip to Vesuvius was a key stop for Grand
Tourists, and volcanoes also occupied a central place in eighteenthcentury European painting, dramatic night-time explosions offering
artists the opportunity to use the contrast of light and shade to spectacular effect (fig. 3).
13 Eighteenth-century visitors to Italy often
bought paintings of Vesuvius and the Encyclopédie plates depicting
the volcano’s eruptions are highly reminiscent of such images. Other
Encyclopédie images, however, reflect a more scientifically motivated
interest: in 1766 the artist Jean-Jacques de Boissieu, accompanying
the duc de la Rochefoucauld and the geologist Nicolas Desmarest on a
tour of Italy and France, took a number of drawings of Auvergne rock
formations which he later submitted to Diderot for inclusion in the
Encyclopédie (fig. 4).
14 These images, with their precise observation
of the rocks’ detail, display a concern for a scientific, above and
___________________________
12 “Histoire naturelle, Règne mineral, Cinquième collection, Glaciers, Planche II”,
XXVII; Pinault, “Diderot et les illustrateurs”, p. 25.
13 Pinault, The Painter as Naturalist: From Dürer to Redoute, trans. by Philip Sturgess (Paris: Flammarion, 1991), pp. 255-59; Ian Jenkins and Kim Sloan, Vases and
Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and His Collection (London: British Museum Press,
1996); Barbara Maria Stafford, Voyage Into Substance: Art, Science, Nature, and the
Illustrated Travel Account, 1760-1840 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1984), p.
249. Stafford argues that there was a clear difference between such images motivated
by “an ostentatious display of artistic effects” and the studies undertaken by amateur
and professional volcanologists.
14 Marie-Félicie Perez and Madeleine Pinault, “Three New Drawings by Jean-Jacques
de Boissieu”, Master Drawings, 23-24 (1987), 389-95 (pp. 389-90); Pinault, The
Painter as Naturalist, p. 255.