Plate 45: Lobster, Squilla Mantis, and Other Crustaceans c. 1575 - 1580

Curator: Alright, next up is "Plate 45: Lobster, Squilla Mantis, and Other Crustaceans" by Joris Hoefnagel, created around 1575 to 1580. It's a colored-pencil drawing. What’s your initial reaction to this one? Editor: Utterly charming. It feels like peering into a perfectly curated, if slightly unsettling, tide pool. There’s a weird sense of serenity and biological unease swirling together. Curator: That unease, I think, comes from our modern perception. These meticulously rendered crustaceans reflect the Mannerist obsession with detail, elevating natural specimens to symbolic emblems of worldly knowledge and control. Consider how collecting such knowledge and art connected one to the rest of the world. Editor: Definitely feel that control—everything is so precisely placed, yet just out of reach in the image. I keep wondering what kind of scientific yearning led to such detailed obsession? And I mean that almost literally--each tiny hair on these guys looks counted! Curator: Well, the drawings were a crucial element of early scientific illustration, documenting new discoveries from explorations around the world. This desire to classify and display aligns with an emerging imperial mindset. Plus, of course, the image evokes the symbolism often attached to sea creatures as images of luck and resilience. They persevere in a challenging environment and so represent a strength in their will to survive and overcome obstacles. Editor: They do have a rather stately presence about them, don’t they? You could hang this in your bathroom as decor and people might never think about this Mannerist obsession with world control and discovery. Curator: Precisely. Its layered meanings accumulate through cultural and art historical memory. Editor: I never would have imagined a drawing of crustaceans giving me pause. Gives one food for thought. Curator: Indeed, Joris Hoefnagel successfully layers naturalism and philosophical inquiry within a single image.