Book Review: Amazing Rare Things

This book is a built around a collection of art work from five natural history artists. The artwork is part of the Royal Library that is held at Windsor Castle.

The book begins with a short history of natural history art by David Attenborough and he writes short pieces about some of the individual pieces of art. The history of each artist is written by experts on the artist and are written in separate chapters as follows:

Leonardo Da Vinci is written by Martin Clayton. We hear about Leonardo's research into the anatomy of natural subjects, including the excellent drawings of the anatomy of the bear's foot. Along with his interest in accurately representing the geology of his surroundings, we also hear that Leonardo became very interested in botany - not just for accuracy when the were included in other paintings, but in and of itself.

The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo is written by Rea Alexandratos. We hear of this great collector of natural history artwork. While Cassiano dal Pozzo wasn't an artist himself, he clearly had an eye for excellent art and built up a wonderful collection of art for his paper museum - an encyclopedia of natural history.

Alexander Marshal is written by Susan Owens. Alexander Marshal was primarily a painter of botanical subjects, but would also include animals in some of his work. His great work was a florilegium, which consisted of 159 sheets of plants and flowers of English gardens.

Maria Sibylla Merian is written by Susan Owens. Maria Sibylla Merian spent from 1699 to 1701 in the Dutch colony of Surinam, which is in South America. She was an entomologist and produced a book about the stages of life insects go through, for instance by life-cycle of butterflies. Along with the amazing detail of the insects, Maria also painted insect interactions with plants.

Mark Catesby is written by Susan Owens. Mark Catesby's great work was a two-part book on the natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. He seems to have been fascinated by birds and fish. He found that the colour of fish fade quickly when they are died, so to ensure that his paintings were accurate, he made sure he had a ready supply of them. While this may seem wasteful, his paintings are marvellous and must have inspired all who saw them.

It's a really good read. Hours can be spent looking at the art work that over time has been purchased or gifted to the Royal Family and kept safe. It's nice that such books are being published. It allows future generations to know of the genius of those past artists. This book is good in that there is enough written detail, but not too much that the focus leaves the art work.