The Cabinet

Imperato, Ferrante (1550–1625)
Historia Naturale di Ferrante Imperato Napoletano, nella quale
ordinatamente si tratta della diuersa consition de minere, pietre
pretiose, & altre curiosità, convarie historie di piante, & animali,
sin’hora non date in luce
Venetia: Presso Combi e La Noù, 1672.

This woodcut illustration is an iconic depiction of an early modern cabinet of
curiosities, curated and used as a research collection by its owner, Ferrante Imperato, a wealthy Neopolitan apothecary.

Imperato sought to highlight and publish only unique specimens which were previously unknown in Europe, thereby increasing the volume of visual knowledge. Much of this “new” knowledge came in the form of items like shells from the Americas or plants from East Asia. Their presence presents an image of Naples as a central part of the expansive Spanish Empire, and of Imperato being well connected within it.

Despite the immense variety of organic specimens depicted in this illustration, the bulk of the text is devoted to minerals, which likely would have been housed in the cupboards on the left side of the woodcut. Over two thirds of the illustrations within the book are concentrated in the final two chapters which describe plants and animals. In scientific texts, where precision and specificity were essential, the ability of woodcuts to faithfully reproduce detailed illustrations was a groundbreaking development.