Nature Displayed

Eighteenth-century Concepts of Women and Nature depicted in Art and Science

Professor Ludmilla Jordanova explains the connections between the concept of woman and botany (flowers, gardens, nurturing), health, charity (breastfeeding) and truth (as unveiled by science). She shows how the obstetric atlases of the day (Hunter and Jenty) depicted the dissected pregnant female torso in relation to classical art forms; and how even anatomical models were sexualized (wax model from the Science Museum, London). She discusses how the debates about midwifery, particularly the appearance of male midwives and the use of obstetric instruments such as forceps, polarized views in society about what was natural and what constituted `meddling with nature.' Finally she makes reference to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as encapsulating fears that the Enlightenment obsession with science had gone too far. Quotations from George Crabbe's The Parish Register, telling the story of Leah Cousins, the village midwife, and Doctor Glibb, illustrate the midwifery debate, with contemporary caricatures by Thomas Rowlandson and pamphlets.

© 1998-2001 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.