{"product_id":"the-insect-and-the-image-visualizing-nature-in-early-modern-europe-1500-1700-9780816667659","title":"The Insect and the Image: Visualizing Nature in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700","description":"\u003cp\u003eOnce considered marginal members of the animal world (at best) or vile and offensive creatures (at worst), insects saw a remarkable uptick in their status during the early Renaissance. This quickened interest was primarily manifested in visual images--in illuminated manuscripts, still life paintings, the decorative arts, embroidery, textile design, and cabinets of curiosity. In \u003ci\u003eThe Insect and the Image\u003c\/i\u003e, Janice Neri explores the ways in which such imagery defined the insect as a proper subject of study for Europeans of the early modern period.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was not until the sixteenth century that insects began to appear as the sole focus of paintings and drawings--as isolated objects, or specimens, against a blank background. The artists and other image makers Neri discusses deployed this \"specimen logic\" and so associated themselves with a mode of picturing in which the ability to create a highly detailed image was a sign of artistic talent and a keenly observant eye. \u003ci\u003eThe Insect and the Image\u003c\/i\u003e shows how specimen logic both reflected and advanced a particular understanding of the natural world--an understanding that, in turn, supported the commodification of nature that was central to global trade and commerce during the early modern era. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRevealing how sixteenth- and seventeenth-century artists and image makers shaped ideas of the natural world, Neri's work enhances our knowledge of the convergence of art, science, and commerce today. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJanice Neri is associate professor of the history of art and visual culture at Boise State University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Minnesota Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50845575577874,"sku":"9780816667659","price":30.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5f56e1fc-e3f3-48f6-afae-2b97fe99137c.jpg?v=1737354030","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-insect-and-the-image-visualizing-nature-in-early-modern-europe-1500-1700-9780816667659","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}