Abstract
Abstract At the heart of the project are artistic depictions of animals and plants in a precise geographical area and over a long chronological span: North Italy between the 14th and 17th centuries. The representation of natural elements has characterised Western art since antiquity. Over the centuries, artists’ methods and approaches have changed, as have the religious and symbolic meanings of the various species depicted, introduced mainly by Christian theologians and exegetes from the Patristic era onwards. Within the framework of existing research on the subject, the project proposes to develop for the first time systematic repositories, to be incorporated into digital databases, aimed at the identification of animal or plant species. The insights and case studies envisaged by the project aim to lay the foundations for the development of a database dedicated to the theme of animals and plants seen through the filter of artistic representations: a repository useful for a better knowledge - and therefore protection - of individual works, but also as a tool to find new links between apparently different contexts, through the centuries, thanks to the persistence of certain models (for which it will be possible to create a sort of family tree). The database, filled by the materials collected thanks to the case studies, will then be the ideal platform for new studies and new repositories, which would then further enrich it. The investigation into the artistic testimonies of the past, adequately rendered through knowledge dissemination tools, including digital ones (databases; but also video documentaries), thus aims to contribute to a growth in awareness on the theme of ecological transition, knowledge of and respect for the environment and biological diversity, as well as to an awareness of the strategic centrality of environmental protection, placing reflections on sustainability in a historical perspective and providing study and consultation tools for a scholarly audience that could be much broader than just art historians. The case studies, from which the repository that will fill the database will be drawn, will be mainly four: 1. Painting and manuscript illumination in northern Italy between the 14th and 15th centuries; 2. Sculpture in the Po Valley in the 15th century (with particular attention to the wooden panels from choir stalls, including those of the Milanese basilica of Sant’Ambrogio); 3. Painting in the Po Valley and Venice between the late 15th and early 16th centuries (with a particular focus on the Venice of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione and young Titian); 4. Bologna between the mid-16th and early 17th century (following a chronological period that coincides with that of Ulisse Aldrovandi’s career). The project objectives will be pursued through the achievement of three intermediate milestones: the organization of two international conferences and the creation of an open access digital database.
Results achieved
Over the two-year duration of the project, the research units of the University of Bologna and the University of Milan successfully pursued the main objectives outlined in the original proposal, achieving significant results in both research and knowledge dissemination. The project’s primary achievement has been the design, implementation, and population of an open-access digital database entitled Animals and Plants, dedicated to artistic representations of animals and plants in Northern Italy between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Conceived as a research infrastructure for both art historians and scholars working at the intersection of visual culture and the history of natural sciences, the database provides systematically catalogued records identifying animal and plant species represented in artworks and documenting their artistic, historical, and iconographic contexts. The database is now publicly available online (https://animalsplants.unimi.it) and constitutes the first comprehensive digital repository specifically devoted to this field of research. The cataloguing activities focused on a series of carefully selected case studies spanning different artistic media and chronological periods. These include the late fourteenth-century manuscripts of the Tacuinum Sanitatis; the fifteenth-century wooden choir stalls of Lombardy and Piedmont, beginning with the celebrated choir of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan; several model books, including the renowned Bergamo Sketchbook by Giovannino de’ Grassi; a significant corpus of paintings produced in Northern Italy between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; a selection of volumes containing handmade botanical and zoological illustrations commissioned by Ulisse Aldrovandi; and the frescoes painted by Guercino in the Pannini House at Cento. The systematic documentation of these works has generated a substantial body of data that not only enhances the understanding and preservation of individual artworks but also enables comparative analyses of iconographic models, artistic transmission, and the circulation of visual knowledge across regions and centuries. The project also promoted an active programme of scientific dissemination through the organization of two international conferences. The first conference, Animals and Plants in the Art of Northern Italy from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Renaissance, was held in Milan on 17 April 2025 and focused on medieval and early Renaissance artistic production. The second conference, Visual Arts and Natural Sciences in the Early Modern Period: Animals and Plants in Emilian Painting between the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, took place in Bologna on 3-4 September 2025 and explored the relationships between artistic practice and natural history in the early modern period. The papers presented at these two meetings will form the basis of a collective volume scheduled for publication in 2027. Research carried out within the framework of the project was also disseminated through presentations at the annual conferences of CUNSTA (Consulta Universitaria Nazionale per la Storia dell’Arte), held in Padua in November 2024 and in Milan in November 2025. These contributions provided an important opportunity to discuss the project’s methodology and preliminary results with the broader scholarly community, fostering new collaborations and reinforcing the interdisciplinary character of the research. Overall, the project has successfully established an innovative digital research platform, produced a substantial corpus of systematically organised data, strengthened collaboration between the participating institutions, and significantly advanced scholarship on the representation of flora and fauna in the artistic culture of Northern Italy from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. The Animals and Plants database represents a lasting research infrastructure that will continue to be expanded and refined through future investigations and collaborations.Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Gianluca Del Monaco
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento delle Arti
Coordinator:
Università degli Studi di MILANO(Italy)
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 115.655,00
Project Duration in months: 24
Start Date:
30/11/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
