Paper zoo on display in Bologna, ante litteram collection of eighteenth-century figurines

Through April 30, 2020 San Giorgio in Poggiale in Bologna is hosting the exhibition Zoo di carta. The Spread of Zoological Images from Buffon’s Histoire naturelle, curated by Pierangelo Bellettini.

The exhibition aims to reconstruct the fortunes of the engravings of quadruped animals in Georges-Louis Leclerc Count of Buffon’s Histoire naturelle, produced in Paris between 1749 and 1767, and the important role Bologna played in spreading the new Enlightenment thought, as well as in the production of the scientific illustrated book.

Leclerc’s text had many editions, issues, counterfeits and translations throughout Europe, and came to Bologna with the Serie d’animali quadrupedes: a serialized series, weekly, between 1783 and 1787.

On display, then, are 132 zoological illustrations recently acquired by the Library of San Giorgio in Poggiale, all printed in Bologna in the 1780s by the chalcographers Antonio Cattani and Antonio Nerozzi: apublishing venture considered one of the most significant episodes in the history of Bolognese printing in the second half of the 18th century.

The Bolognese prints, which can be understood almost as a collection of ante litteram figurines similar in size to an A3, are distinguished by the rich descriptive apparatus of the individual figures: well-known animals are depicted, such as the horse, donkey, and ox, but more often unusual ones, such as those that were exhibited for payment at fairs, including elephants, rhinos, hippos, camels, or even animals of very recent discovery in the distant territories of Siam, Guinea, Canada, and Brazil. Indeed, the exotic component plays a considerable role in contextualizing the environment in which the animal is represented.

Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free admission.

Paper zoo on display in Bologna, ante litteram collection of eighteenth-century figurines

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