{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1136478"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1136478/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CT3879/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CT3879/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CT3879","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CT2245","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NP7304","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1136478/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1136478","accessionNumber":"E.428-2009","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Thorn apple","type":"popular title"},{"title":"Datura stramonium L.","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This watercolour is part of the 'Paper Museum' assembled by the 17th-century Roman antiquarian and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657). This was a vast visual encyclopaedia of the ancient and natural worlds, consisting of thousands of drawings and prints. Of roughly 7000 surviving drawings from the Paper Museum, around 2500 are of natural history subjects, including fruit and plants. \r\n\r\nCassiano was a member of Europe's first modern scientific academy, the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei, established in Rome in 1603 -  half a century before either the Royal Society in London or the Académie des Sciences in Paris. The Accademia, which numbered Galileo amongst its members, placed great emphasis on observation as the key to unravelling the mysteries of nature. \r\n\r\nFor his Paper Museum Cassiano commissioned artists to make drawings directly from specimens; the resulting works were intended to be clear and objective scientific records. Little is known about these artists, due to the documentary bias of the visual encyclopaedia. \r\n\r\nCassiano was  interested in the previously unknown species which at this time were being imported to Europe from the Americas, and sought to include them in the Paper Museum. The thorn apple was one such plant. Its white flower, which opens during the night, emits an unpleasant smell, giving rise to the name <i>erba puzzola</i>or 'stinking plant'. Another name to have become attached to it is <i>mela del diavolo,</i>or 'devil's apple', a reference to its spiny fruits. The plant has hallucinogenic properties.\r\n\r\nThis drawing was originally contained in one of two volumes of botanical drawings in Cassiano's collection entitled <u>Erbario Miniato</u>. One of these volumes remains in the Royal Collection, whilst the other left the Royal Library in the early twentieth century and the contents dispersed.","physicalDescription":"Watercolour of a leafy plant with seed pods.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"bodycolour","id":"x34671"},{"text":"black chalk","id":"AAT80058"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour and bodycolour over black chalk","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Botanical art","id":"THES277744"}],"styles":[{"text":"Roman","id":"AAT20533"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2009CT3879","2009CT2245","2023NP7304"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"WD","shelf":"216","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1622-1623","earliest":"1617-01-01","latest":"1626-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with support from the Gaster Fund and the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Mr and Mrs Moross","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"31.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo; from whose heirs purchased by Pope Clement XI, 1703; his nephew, Alessandro Albani, 1714; from whom purchased by George III, 1762; by descent to George V. Sold, with many other drawings from the Paper Museum, from the Royal Library at Windsor Castle in the 1920s.  \r\n\r\nThe London dealer Jacob Mendelson acquired many of these works and sold a large group to Sir Rex Nan Kivell who was then a partner in the Redfern Galleries. The art dealer Peter Cochrane had worked at the Redfern Galleries in the 1930s and knew Nan Kivell, from whom he presumably acquired this watercolour in the early 1950s.  \r\n\r\nPurchased from the estate of Peter Cochrane with E.426-2009 and E.427-2009, 2009.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour of a thorn apple, anon. Italian (fl.1615-23) from the 'Paper Museum' of Cassiano dal Pozzo; ca. 1622-23","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Fabio Garbari and Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi, <u>The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo: Flora: the Herbario Miniato and other drawings</u>, volume two (London: The Royal Collection in association with Harvey Miller Publishers, 2007), no. 289"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"thorn apple","id":"x44715"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"encyclopaedia","id":"x44713"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Unknown artist\r\nThorn Apple (Datura stramonium L.)\r\n1622-3\r\n\r\nCassiano dal Pozzo was a member of Europe's first modern scientific academy, the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei. This was established in Rome in 1603, half a century before the Royal Society in London. One of its members was the astronomer Galileo. The Accademia placed great emphasis on observation in unravelling the mysteries of nature.\r\n\r\nRome\r\nWatercolour and bodycolour\r\nPurchased with support from the Gaster Fund and the\r\nAmerican Friends of the V&A through the generosity of \r\nMr and Mrs Moross\r\nV&A: E.428-2009","date":{"text":"2011","earliest":"2011-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["E.428-2009"],"accessionNumberNum":"428","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2009,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2009-08-25","availableToBook":false}}