Illustration XXVIII 15th-16th century

Editor: This is Illustration XXVIII by an anonymous artist, housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a woodcut of a peculiar tree. I'm immediately struck by its slightly unsettling atmosphere. What do you make of it? Curator: It's a fantastic little world, isn't it? The artist has conjured this image of nature brimming with… oddities. A snake-necked fruit, a buggy apple, and a plump spider all sharing space on an oak! Perhaps it's a meditation on the strange beauty of nature. What do you think? Editor: I see it, like an alchemical emblem, a garden of earthly yet slightly weird delights! Thanks for that perspective! Curator: My pleasure! Art’s always whispering secrets, isn’t it?