NAPOLETANO, Filippo
(b. ca. 1589 Napoli, d. 1629, Roma)

Two Shells

1618
Oil on canvas, 39 x 56 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

This painting illustrates the fluid boundaries between natural science and visual arts. The mollusk on the left is Tridacna elongata, the one on the right, Cassis cornuta, both are from the Indian Ocean. This was the age of taxonomy, under the influence of Aristotle and discovery.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.