Scientist of the Day - Ulisse Aldrovandi
Harpy, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 337, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
Ulisse Aldrovandi, an Italian Renaissance naturalist, was born Sep. 11, 1522, in Bologna. This is the fourth time we have celebrated Aldrovandi's birthday, putting him ahead of Isaac Newton, which in the grand scheme of things is undoubtedly unjust, but it is hard not to give Aldrovandi unequal time in the limelight. After all, he did leave behind 13 fat volumes on mammals, birds, insects, fish, serpents and dragons, and metals and minerals, each one crammed with large woodcuts often made after paintings in his monumental iconographic collection. In our first three posts, we sampled his volumes on birds and quadrupeds, his collection of fossils, and an exhibition of portraits.
Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi, engraving, Academie des sciences et des arts, by Isaac Bullart, vol. 2, p. 109, 1682 (The Linda Hall)
However, if you were to open up each of the 13 volumes of Aldrovandi's collected works, array them on a few tables, and invite in a class of high school students, a university biology seminar, or a van-load of senior citizens from an assisted living community, there is no doubt which volume would attract the most attention. The table holding Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia (History of Monsters, 1642) will soon be surrounded by young and/or old, oohing and aahing at three-legged chickens and two-headed swine. We know this because we have performed the experiment dozens of times.
Bishop-fish, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 358, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
Goat with growth on head, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 425, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
We don't really know how well this volume reflects Aldrovandi's own fascination with the monstrous – it was published 37 years after his death, by a man, Bartolommeo Ambrosini, who was only 17 when Aldrovandi died. But we do know that most of wonderful woodcuts were made after paintings that Aldrovandi himself commissioned (and which still survive in Bologna).
Elephant-headed boy, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 431, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
Two-headed, 3-eyed calf, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 657, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
We tend today to associate monsters with horror films and leave them out of zoology, but in Renaissance times, monstrous living things were of great interest to naturalists. They were often referred to as pretetnatural entities, things "beyond nature", and it was believed that understanding the preternatural was an essential prerequisite for determining what is natural, and how natural things are to be sorted and classified. A dog-headed pig might help us determine the essence of both dogginess and piggieness.
Siamese twins, half dog, half human, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 653, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
The variety of monsters on display in Aldrovandi's Monstrorum is staggering, and I don't really know how to discuss it, except to show you half-a-dozen representative woodcuts and let you ooh and aah on your own, just like our visitors. It is probably as good a way as any to start a Friday morning, which it just happens to be. May your weekend be preternatural.
Four-legged duck, woodcut, Monstrorum historia, by Ulisse Aldrovandi, p. 564, 1642 (The Linda Hall)
We have only two historical portraits of Aldrovandi in our collections. One is in the first volume of his trilogy on birds (1599), and we showed that in our first post on Aldrovandi. The other is in a portrait book of 1682, by Isaac Bullart, and we reproduce that one today, as our second image.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
