Art of Natural History

SYLLABUS

Week One: Intro to Natural History: origins in botany; role of Ancient Greece and the Greco-Arabic translation movement; and the evolution of print-making techniques.

Week Two: Collectors, Cabinets of Curiosity, and Museums: spirituality and science; colonialism; sorting fact from fiction; origins of the modern museum; intro to the scientific revolution of the Renaissance

Week Three: Zoology: bestiaries; print revolution; public dissections and first hand observation; influence on painters of the Northern Renaissance

Week Four: Human Anatomy and Medicine; public dissections and first hand observation; marriage of art and science; symbolism in anatomical atlases

Week Five: Ornithology: falconry, symbolism, and species identification

Week Six: Entomology: from the margins of illuminated manuscripts to dedicated field guides; role in fine art

Week Seven: Marine Life: maps and mythology; corals and aquariums; astonishing microscopic lifeforms

Week Eight: Geometry in Nature; pattern and design in the natural world