Gardens on Canvas and Paper: Cataloguing Botanical Abundance in Late Medici Tuscany: Fid-Bau Portal

Gardens on Canvas and Paper: Cataloguing Botanical Abundance in Late Medici Tuscany

Schmiedel, Irina

Abstract What is the purpose of portraying a branch from a pear tree in bloom and fruit, of listing hundreds of citrus varieties or of dissecting a huge truffle? When Cosimo III (1642–1723), the penultimate grand duke of the Medici dynasty, commissioned artists and botanists alike to create comprehensive visual and textual catalogues of Tuscan flora, aesthetics and curiosity seemed to go hand in hand with a demonstration of knowledge and prosperity. This article deals with the collection of botanical paintings by Bartolomeo Bimbi (1648–1730), housed in the Casino della Topaia close to the city of Florence, and with the mainly handwritten work of the grand ducal botanist Pier Antonio Micheli (1679–1737), who, among other things, compiled a list of fruit varieties brought to Cosimo’s table. Recording both botanical diversity and specialty, these ‘gardens on canvas and paper’ simultaneously acted as representatives of taste and erudition, of possession and the geographical reach of the grand ducal influence. One of the questions to address is whether such issues of conspicuous consumption fostered or rather constrained ‘scientific progress’, like the taxonomic discourse or the study of obviously less prestigious lower plants that Micheli could only pursue by extending his ‘network’ far beyond the borders of Tuscany.