Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment

by Daniela Bleichmar

Between 1777 and 1816, botanical expeditions crisscrossed the vast Spanish empire in an ambitious project to survey the flora of much of the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. While these voyages produced written texts and compiled collections of specimens, they dedicated an overwhelming proportion of their resources and energy to the creation of visual materials. European and American naturalists and artists collaborated to manufacture a staggering total of more than 12,000 botanical illustrations. Yet these images have remained largely overlooked—until now. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Daniela Bleichmar gives this archive its due, finding in these botanical images a window into the worlds of Enlightenment science, visual culture, and empire. Through innovative interdisciplinary scholarship that bridges the histories of science, visual culture, and the Hispanic world, Bleichmar uses these images to trace two related the little-known history of scientific expeditions in the Hispanic Enlightenment and the history of visual evidence in both science and administration in the early modern Spanish empire. As Bleichmar shows, in the Spanish empire visual epistemology operated not only in scientific contexts but also as part of an imperial apparatus that had a long-established tradition of deploying visual evidence for administrative purposes.

Genres: History, Art History, History Of Science, Nonfiction, Art, 18th Century, Science

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Daniela Bleichmar is Professor of Art History and History at the University of Southern California, where she also serves as Associate Provost for Faculty and Student Initiatives in the Arts and Humanities.

Professor Bleichmar grew up in Argentina and Mexico before immigrating to the U.S. to attend college. She studied at Harvard University (BA, 1996) and Princeton University (PhD, 2005). Before joining the USC faculty, she held a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowship through the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, with which she remains actively involved. She is also a member of the executive committee of the USC Visual Studies Research Institute.

Reviews

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a Production of Knowledge class for my MA and this is easily one of my favourite books I've read so far. Bleichmar's analysis of the Hispanic Enlightenment and the significance of the botanical illustrations helped develop my understanding of visual epistemology and how visual sources can be used as primary historical sources.

Great read - 100% would recommend if you're interested in art history and artistic forms of representing knowledge.

[Audrey Sauble · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at the history of natural science and natural science illustration, focused on the Spanish expeditions to South America and other regions in the western hemisphere. Just be warned that it reads a bit like a postgrad dissertation, so it's very dense.

[Soleil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish it had more on the Philippines.