Wonder and the Natural World

Vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Francisco de Florencia. La Estrella de el Norte de Mexico. 1785.

Illustration of the Virgin Mary appearing to Juan Diego.

Aristotle's Compleat Master Piece… . 1788.

The image depicts a doctor at his desk, and to his side, a hairy woman and a black child born to white parents. Each of these alleged deformities was attributed to an action of the mother.

View of game board showing several natural wonders, such as mountains and waterfalls.
Wallis's Elegant and Instructive Game Exhibiting the Wonders of Nature. 1818.

This detail of the game board depicts a blistering desert wind storm, an horrific earthquake, frozen seas, astonishing rock formations, and numerous mountain peaks.

Engraving of a glacier in the Alps, with small human figures in the foreground.
Louis Agassiz. Untersuchungen über die Gletscher. 1841.

An engraving of a glacier at Zermatt in the Alps

Virgin Mary appearing to Juan Diego.
Francisco de Florencia. La Estrella de el Norte de Mexico. 1785.

Illustration of the Virgin of Guadalupe appearing to Juan Diego.

Image of a blemmyae, a race of headless people whose faces are located in their chests, alleged to have lived in either northern Africa or India.
Giovanni Botero. Le Relationi Universali di Giovanni Botero Benese. 1618.

An illustration of a blemmyae, a race of headless people whose faces are located in their chests, alleged to have lived in either northern Africa or India.

A flying dragon surprising a man on a mountain path.
Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. Ouresiphoitēs Helveticus. 1723. Vol. 3 & 4.

A fanciful illustration depicting a fanciful flying dragon surprising a man on a mountain path.

Woodcut image of people and animals swept away in a flood.
Konrad Lykosthenes. Prodigiorvm ac ostentorvm chronicon. 1557.

A depiction of a flood in Konrad Lykosthenes’s chronicle of portents.