Announcing the publication of the following article by Alex Seltzer: "Catesby's Conundrums: mixing representation with metaphor," The British Art Journal, XVI no. 3 (Winter 2015/16), 82-92. The author argues that some of Mark Catesby's "illogical" combinations of plants and animals for his Natural History of Carolina must be taken as metaphors promoting the argument from design. Similarities or dichotomies between plants and animals conform with notions about the "book of nature" derived from physico-theology. Catesby's hidden in plain sight visual metaphors seem aimed at the virtuosi who followed the creationist theories of the Cambridge Platonists, Robert Boyle, John Ray and William Derham. These early natural philosophers sought proof of the Creator through nature and Catesby signaled unusual features of plants and animals that could only have been the result of a wise and all powerful being.
A limited number of copies of the current issue of The British Art Journal may be available by contacting agent Ms. Sally Sharp at [log in to unmask] Rates: UK 17 pounds; USA 30 dollars. Author contact: [log in to unmask]
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