ABOUT THIS BOOK

A critical biography of the early modern Italian naturalist.

The Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was a prolific writer, polymath, and prodigious collector who amassed the largest collection of naturalia in sixteenth-century Europe, as well as hundreds of colored drawings detailing them. Many of these drawings found their way into his illustrated publications, most of which were published posthumously.

This book provides a concise yet comprehensive portrait of Aldrovandi, paying particular attention to two aspects: the role that the newly discovered continent of America played in his research interests, and his study of abnormalities of physiological development in organisms. Peter Mason gives insight into Aldrovandi’s fascinating life, his early work on antiquities, his natural history and other collecting activities, his network of correspondents and patrons, and the influence and legacy of his collection and publications.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Peter Mason is the author of several books, including The Modernists that Rome Made: Turner and Other Foreign Painters in Rome, XVI–XIX Century. He lives in Rome.

REVIEWS

"All those with an interest in the emergent understanding of natural history in the sixteenth century will know something of Ulisse Aldrovandi, prolific collector, author and illustrator of a world in which new phenomena were revealed on a daily basis. Peter Mason presents a penetrating portrait of the man himself, extending his discussion to include Aldrovandi’s all-important network of correspondents, his field practice and his attempts to order the natural world with the aid of his vast museum and archive. In this engaging, sympathetically written and densely illustrated volume, peppered with key passages abstracted into English (many for the first time) from Aldrovandi’s publications and from his vast personal correspondence, the reader is presented with an astonishingly detailed picture not only of the working methods but of the social and the scholarly milieu inhabited by this highly original figure from the early history of natural science."

— Arthur MacGregor, author of 'Company Curiosities: Nature, Culture and the East India Company, 1600–1874'

“Sixteenth-century Bolognese naturalist, writer and collector Ulisse Aldrovandi is underexposed today . . . Historian Peter Mason’s eye-catching biography rescues Aldrovandi from obscurity.”

— Nature

" It has always been a huge lack for historians of science, art and natural history that there has been no monograph, let alone one in English, on the man who created the largest scientific collection of sixteenth-century Europe. Now for the first time in Peter Mason’s new book, English readers have a succinct and highly readable account of Aldrovandi’s life and work. Ulisse Aldrovandi: Naturalist and collector is the latest and welcome addition to the excellent compact Renaissance Lives series . . . In his extensive research, consolidated to fit the compact format of the Renaissance Lives series, together with a careful selection of illustrations, Mason has contributed an enormously rich and helpful fund of information about Aldrovandi and his world. Scholars of early modern science, the history of collecting and natural history illustration will find this book an accessible and invaluable reference tool.”

— Journal of the History of Collections

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Abbreviations

Preface

Prologue: Housing and Displaying a Collection

1. Finding His Way: The Early Years

2. The Network Expands

3. Forming a Collection, Friendship and Patronage

4. The American Mirage

5. Anomalies

6. Art and Artists

7. Ornithologia and After: The Collection and the Posthumous Publications

Chronology

References

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Photo Acknowledgements

Index

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