Describing plants and exploring their appearance, occurrence and usefulness have been common practice from antiquity. Even though the term “herbarium” underwent various changes in meaning over the centuries, it generally referred to a book on herbs, listing plants that were believed to possess pharmaceutical properties. Illustrations – some of them of high artistic quality – in books on herbs have been known since the Early Modern Period. Illustrative woodcuts created between 1530 and 1546, depicting the herbaria of the three pioneers of botany, Otto Brunfels, Leonhart Fuchs and Hieronymus Bock, had additional value as botanical reference points (Dressendörfer 2011). Nature printing, using the plant itself as the printing plate, was another method used in illustrating botanical books. It drew on the idea of nature inscribing itself to determine the technique of illustration. The rather elaborate procedure, described by Leonardo da Vinci and perfected during the 19th century, allowed for a detailed image of the plant in question.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:93549 |
| Date | 03 September 2024 |
| Creators | Müller, Frank |
| Contributors | Kustodie der Technische Universität Dresden |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:bookPart, info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 978-3-95498-820-4, urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa2-935223, qucosa:93522 |
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