I'm working on an article about early microscopic observations of ferns and the resulting images. Taking the opportunity, the core team of #VisualizingtheUnknown returned to the Museum Boerhaave yesterday for a MicroLab to observe fern sporangia and spores through early modern microscopes together!

Photo with a microscope attributed to John Marshall as the maker in the front and a microscope made by Giuseppe Campani in the back.

A tiny slice of a dandelion stem under on a petri dish under the lens.

Magnified view of the dandelion stem slice when it was hydrated, showing vibrant greens in coloration.

Magnified view of the dandelion stem slice when it was almost dried, becoming more shriveled in form and brown in coloration.

Back to the #MuseumBoerhaave to work with two rare compound microscopes from the 17th-c., one made by Giuseppe Campani and another attributed to John Marshall as the maker. So many new thoughts emerged from observing how colors and form changed under the lenses. #VisualizingTheUnknown #histsci

Rij met oude tekeningen

Achter de schermen bij het @rijksmuseum.bsky.social voor #VisualizingTheUnknown

@sietskefransen.bsky.social neemt deze week de account @historicivertellen.bsky.social over. Zij vertelde gisteren iets over onze #VisualizingTheUnknown project. Kijk eens!

Photo of many wax botanical models in pots on display. The models are in life-size to the modeled plants. The walls and display shelves are painted in green.

Photo showing the wax botanical model of "Cactus truncastus" in front of a green wall. The plant is placed in a pot with an oval cartouche that shows the name of the plant, as known in the eighteenth century. Next to the pot (to the bottom right of the picture plane) is a small wax model showing the flower head that is cut in half and placed on a ceramic dish shaped like a seashell.

Photo of wax models of plant anatomy displayed on shelves. The walls have pink wallpaper and the shelves are also painted pink.

Photo of a set of wax models showing the physiological preparation of Cucurbita pepo under a glass case.

Another article I'm working on within the #VisualizingTheUnknown project is about historical three-dimensional representations of plant anatomy. What a treat to be able to see these incredible 18th- and 19th-c. wax botanical models at #LaSpecola in Florence. #histsci

Foto van een vrouw met een groot boek voor haar op tafel.

New profile picture by Johan Nieuwenhuize for the #VisualizingTheUnknown project!

Pink butterfly

Pink caterpillar

Of course there is pink too! #VisualizingTheUnknown

Photo showing a dead bee pinned under an 18th-century microscope for scientific observation and microscopic research.

Test run of working w/ #EarlyModern #microscopes at the Museum Boerhaave for a new article I'm starting! A big part of #visualizingtheunknown is to better understand what early microscopists saw & the encountered challenges by redoing their observations. Back for more observations soon. #histsci

Hand-colored engraving of a crown imperial flower and bulb from Basilius Besler's Hortus Eystettensis (1613).

Tab. 56 that depicts the backside of the Theca, the belly of the Theca, the column of the magnifid, flower of Hyoscyanus, one of the spermatick Thecae, the edges of the Theca open, and the column in the middle of the flower. From Nehemiah Grew's The anatomy of plants (1682).

Hand-colored etching of various parts of wheat in the Blackwellianum Herbarium (1750-1773).

I talked about some of the stunning botanical books in the Teylers collections on day 2 of VisionLab! We focused on the various book formats and how the physical sizes of the picture planes affected the depictions of plants & microscopic observations. #VisualizingtheUnknown

A hand-colored etching depicting different life stages of a pease blossom moth on a branch of the great mogul plum in Benjamin Wilkes' The English moths and butterflies (1747-1760)

Hand-colored etching depicting the different life stages of a peacock butterfly in Jan Christiaan Sepp's De wonderen Gods in de minst-geachte schepselen [1762-1860]

A plate depicting the muscles of a dissected caterpillar in Pierre Lyonet's Traité anatomique de la chenille (1762)

Photo of the library at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem

Jumping right into action with day 1 of VisionLab, in which we looked at books on butterflies & moths at the Teylers Museum, Haarlem. Discussions centered around how to visualize microscopic observations of the insects through prints and related challenges. #VisualizingtheUnknown