The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College

We are pleased to welcome you to Wonders of Nature and Artifice, a Renaissance-inspired “Chamber of Wonders” curated by students from the First Year Seminar, “Exploration of the Marvelous: Art and Science in the Renaissance” and the Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies course “Wonders of Nature and Artifice: The Renaissance Quest for Knowledge.” In the courses and exhibition, students have learned about the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge and the powerful dynamics behind scientific discovery and societal forces.

The students took as their starting point the Curiosity Cabinets and Chambers of Wonders from the days of the Renaissance. Such collections featured an astounding variety of works of nature and artifice, juxtaposed in ways we no longer see today. The bounty of famed collections like that of Ferrante Imperato or Archduke Albert of Flanders included crocodiles, marble statuettes, corals and shells, globes, exquisite paintings, monkeys, marvelous flowers, unusual clocks, birds, precious gems, skeletons and books. The Renaissance, known as a rebirth of Classical Antiquity, was also an age of global exploration, and collectors were driven by curiosity and a sense of wonder about what seemed to be an ever-expanding world.

In this same spirit, students in these two classes created an exhibition in Schmucker Art Gallery comprised of Gettysburg College’s own wonders of nature and artifice, some specially loaned by faculty, alumni, trustees and even the students themselves. Here, you will see an equally dynamic range of scientific specimens, odd artifacts and works of artistic ingenuity, including elaborate fossils from millions of years past, a 16th-century musical manuscript, beautifully mounted butterflies, a 17th-century Ming plate, the fearsome skull of an alligator, and an Ethiopian magical scroll with hand-painted images on goat vellum.

This endeavor was made possible by the generosity and support of many people across the Gettysburg College campus and beyond. We would like to give special thanks to Shannon Egan, Carolyn Sautter, Mary Wootton, and Sydney Gush, Molly Reynolds, Eric Remy, Carrie Szarko, St. John Smith, R.C. Miessler, and Rachel Lesser. Items were generously loaned to the exhibition from Ron Fuchs, Director of the Reeves Collection at Washington and Lee University, Bruce Stefany, Michael Hobor, Charlie Emmons, Kazuo Hiraizumi, Jack Ryan and as well as the Biology Department, Environmental Studies Program with particular thanks to Sarah Principato, Special Collections and Musselman Library, and the Schmucker Art Gallery, Gettysburg College. We would like to gratefully acknowledge funding from Steve Mahinka, the Johnson Center for Creative Teaching and Learning, EPACC, the Office of the Provost, the Schmucker Art Gallery, and the Art and Art History Department, Gettysburg College.

All original posts can be found online here.