(268) BLO Ms. Ashmole 1461

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17th century, BLO, Cepaea, England, sinistral, stylised, watercolour

In the Bodleian Library, Oxford the ‘Tradescant’s Orchard’ is present [1], a manuscript in which different races of fruits are exhibited in “fair drawings in water-colors” [2]. For more details see the recent work of Juniper & Grootenboer [x], which I unfortunately haven’t been able to consult.

On folio 015r an image is shown of the ‘May Cherry’ with some insects and a snail.

Folio 029r has a second snail, eating a cherry. The text reads “The harte Cherry / Ripe June the 24”.

Both snails are sinistral and apparently modeled after the same species. The cross-shaded spiral band in the colour pattern may have been inspired by a Cepaea species. The animals are rather stylised imaged, the four tentacles schematically drawn.

Notes:
[1] BLO, Ms. Ashmole 1461, 149 ff.
[2] Black, W.H. (1845). A descriptive, analytical, and critical catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed unto the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., etc.: col. 1265–1266. http://bit.ly/1hlX0G8 (14.i.2014).
[x] Juniper, B.E. & Grootenboer, H. (2013). The Tradescant’s orchard: the mystery of seventeenth-century painted fruit book: 1–120. Bodleian Library, Oxford.

(267) AIC 1947.393

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15th century, AIC, dextral, Helix-like, oil-painting, Spain

“Saint Augustine” is the title in the Art Institute, Chicago of this oil on panel made ca. 1477–1485 by Bartolomé Bermejo (active 1468–1495) [1]. His real name was Bartolomé de Cárdenas, born ca. 1440 in Córdoba, Spain. He was a cultivator of the Flemish style using the technique of oil glazing, and was considered the foremost Hispanic painter in the 15th century. Bermejo helped introduce Renaissance style to Spain, and his work was emulated by many painters of his era [2, 3].

Perhaps not seen at first glance, the snail is present as part of the decoration of the throne. It has a Helix-like shell with few whorls and a thickened apertural lip; it is a dextral specimen. The animal seems flattened, but in effect shows the contours of one larger and the two smaller tentacles.

Notes:
[1] AIC, inv. 1947.393. Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection. http://bit.ly/1wh5nK1.
[2] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/62283/Bartolome-Bermejo.
[3] Berg-Sobré, J., 1998. Bortolomé de Cárdenas, “El Bermejo”: itinerant painter in the crown of Aragon: i–xii, 1–333. International Scholar Publications, San Francisco.

(266) BLO Ms. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 65

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16th century, Bible, BLO, hybrid, Italy, shell, sinistral

In the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this Bible with Postilla of Hugh of Saint-Cher is part of the collection Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. It is dated 1507–1511 and originated in Brescia, Italy or possibly Lyon in France.

Folio 002r is the “prologue (letter of St. Jerome to Paulinus). Decorated initial ‘F(rater)’ with ivy. Panel border on all sides with acanthus on unpainted ground and flowers on gold ground, birds, dragons, dragon with snail shell, scrolls, coat of arms” [1].

The shell is segmented, seen in top view and is sinistral.

Note:
[1] BLO, inv. Ms. Canon. Bibl. Lat. 65. http://to.ly/FvAP.

(265) BLL Ms. Royal 2 B.XV

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16th century, BLL, book of hours, dextral, England, humanised, hybrid, stylised

“This is a remarkably large and lavishly illuminated Book of Hours, combining French and English styles. The first leaf contains a list of obits members of the royal family and of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Earls of Ormond and their wives, so it was probably made for Anne Boleyn’s grandfather, Thomas Butler (1426-1515), 7th Earl of Ormond, or a member of his family. It was given in the early 16th century to a chapel at ‘Suthwyke’, probably Southwick in Hampshire. The start of the Hours of the Virgin, facing a full-page miniature, has an initial ‘D’ and border of typical English foliage, inhabited by a snail and hybrid creatures” [1].

The snail is found on f. 016r, has a dextral shell with an exceedingly large aperture. The animal looks like a snail at first glance with a humanised face, but a closer look makes me think it is a hybrid: two legs beneath and a rounded ear, giving the impression of a rat-like creature. No doubt imaginary…, but fitting in the others on the page.

Note:
[1] BLL, inv. Royal 2 B.xv, ff. http://to.ly/Ftqq.

(264) WLL L0074565

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18th century, Cepaea, engraving, France, Mathieu Blot, sinistral, WLL

The oil paint of Frans van Mieris (I) mentioned in the previous post, has inspired Mathieu Blot to engrave the work. This engraving was published by Basan & Poignant, Paris, ca. 1773–1789 [1, 2].

The snail is here just visible, but is—like the total image—mirrored.

Notes:
[1] Wellcome Library Iconographic Collection no. 673814i.
[2] WLL L0074565 via europeana.eu.

(263) MHH 106

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17th century, Cepaea, dextral, Frans van Mieris, MHH, Netherlands, oil-painting

In the collection of the Mauritshuis, The Hague, this painting by Frans van Mieris the Elder (1635–1681) is known as “A boy blowing bubbles”. Van Mieris was active in Leyden between 1655 and 1681 [1, 2]. In a window, the boy blows bubbles. Vines grow around the window frame. A sunflower is displayed in a flask on the left. Behind, a woman holding a puppy. A snail creeps towards the window sill [2].

A detail of the painting shows the snail to be a dextral, pink morph of Cepaea.

Notes:
[1] MHH, inv. 106. http://www.mauritshuis.nl/nl-nl/verdiep/de-collectie/kunstwerken/bellenblazende-jongen-106/detailgegevens/.
[2] https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/56019.

(262) Mattioli 1558

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16th century, dextral, Helix-like, Italy, woodcut

Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501–1577) was  a doctor and naturalist born in Siena, Italy. He received his MD at the University of Padua in 1523, and subsequently practiced the profession in Siena,Rome, Trento and Gorizia, becoming personal physician of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria in Prague, and of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna. A careful student of botany, he described 100 new plants and coordinated the medical botany of his time in his Discorsi (“Commentaries”) on the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, which was also translated in several other languages. In this work, the woodcuts were of a high standard, e.g., allowing recognition of the plant even when the text was obscure [1, 2].

We find on one of the pages a woodcut of fungi with a snail [3].

This snail is indeed quite well illustrated, with both large and small tentacles. It may have been inspired by a Helix-like species. And the dextral shell is printed in a correct way!

Notes:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Andrea_Mattioli.
[2] Mattioli, P. A., 1558. Petri Andreae Matthioli senensis, serenissimi Principis Ferdinandi Auchiducis Austriae &c. Medici, commentarii secundo aucti, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis Anazarbei de medica materia. Venetiis, pp.  Permalink: urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-171031.
[3] http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0039153.html via europeana.eu.

(261) BLO Ms. Douce 366

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'knight and snail', 14th century, BLO, England, marginalia, sinistral, stylised

This manuscript is known as the ‘Ormesby Psalter’ in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and is dated ca. 1310 [1]. “A magnificent psalter, possibly from a monestary in Norwich, with the inscription “Psaltarium Roberti de Ormseby monachi Norwyci…”, thus known as the Ormseby Psalter. Beautifully decorated with paintings, borders and marginal illustrations. Some of the marginal illustrations contain bestiary and other animal themes” [2].

Folio 038r shows the first example of the ‘knight v. snail’ theme in the upper marginalia.

The knight is a woman with a shield in her left hand, opposing a sinistral snail with a full-tentacled animal.

On folio 109r a second example may be seen in the right-hand marginalia.

Here the woman (knight) is apparently frightened by the snail and has dropped the shield and sword. The snail is sinistral and all four tentacles are indicated.

Note:
[1] BLO, inv. Ms. Douce 366. http://to.ly/Fq7d.
[2] http://bestiary.ca/manuscripts/manu5450.htm.

(260) BML PD 1920.0420.63

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19th century, BML, dextral, engraving, France, stylised

“Grandes fleurs” is the title of this etching as design for a ceramic set (‘Service de table de la maison Rousseau’) with flowers, a snail and a butterfly. The print was made by Félix Bracquemond in 1866 and is in the collection of the British Museum, London [1, 2].

The snail is stylised, dextral, with the animal not entirely realistically drawn.

Notes:
[1] BML, inv. PD 1920.0420.63.
[2] Félix Bracquemond (1833–1914), painter, draughstman and etcher; exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art, London 1861–1891 intermittently. First etching in 1849. First Salon (as a painter) in 1852. Co-founder of the Société des aquafortistes in 1862 and Société des peintres-graveurs in 1889; member of the Société internationale des aquafortistes. Started working on ceramics in 1867, and from 1870 to 1878 was almost exclusively dedicated to this activity.
The BML collection of his prints was Bracquemond’s own archive, and was purchased by Dodgson from the artist’s son and given to the BML in 1926–1927.

(259) MMA 2008.110

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16th century, Austria, dextral, gouache, Helix-like, Joris Hoefnagel, MMA, watercolour

In the Metropolitan Museum, New York, one of the works by Joris Hoefnagel is “Still life with flowers, a snail and insects”. This watercolour and gouache on vellum was made in 1589 [1]. It is thus from his Vienna period [2].

The snail is seen from the side, its dextral shell uniformly greyish, as is the animal; only the two larger tentacles are shown. The shell might have been modeled after a Helix-like species.

Note:
[1] MMN, inv. 2008.110. Purchase, Charles and Jessie Price, Jean A. Bonna, and Annette de la Renta Gifts, and The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2008. http://to.ly/FnaZ.
[2] https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/38733.