The Palette of Nature: SHNH Summer Meeting, June 2024 by Zoë Varley

Paintings, Pigments and Preserved specimens: capturing colour in natural history

by Zoë Varley, Doctoral Researcher (Wellcome Collection & University of Leeds) and Curator

For me, one of the most striking aspects of working with zoological specimens is the day-to-day opening of cabinets to be confronted, amongst many layers of history and meaning, with colour. From the bluest blues and blackest blacks, unbelievable iridescence and the spectrum of camouflage tones, to the variation of pattern and the fading vibrancy of tissue, fur, scales and feathers in spirit. The labels, catalogues, notebooks, photographs and artworks that sit alongside these specimens often form a material record of the way colour has changed in death and preservation.

The Palette of Nature summer meeting explored this subject through a range of speakers and papers considering the role of colour in the history of natural history. With the interconnectedness of specimens and visual materials sitting at the heart of this topic, National Museum Cardiff was an ideal location- holding rich collections spanning natural history and visual art that spoke to many of the themes raised throughout the two days.

Across six panels, speakers approached colour from various angles- via artists and artworks, publications and processes, experimentation and classification- encompassing botany, zoology and geology. Colour charts and nomenclatures were a unifying point, featuring in almost every talk, highlighting the efforts across continents and centuries to impose order by shade and tone (many examples are available online via the brilliant Biodiversity Heritage Library). Just as with taxonomic approaches to cataloguing nature itself, these historic endeavours are testament to the limitations of language, and the boundaries of man-made systems in capturing and communicating something so elusive and personal.

Two standout works showing different approaches to depicting the colour of natural history- (left) a page from Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours (1814), showing attempts to classify blue & (right) ‘Squirrels in a plane tree’ by Mughal artist Abu’l Hasan (1605-1608)

It was striking to consider the ways in which colour has played a central role in the communication of knowledge and in the enjoyment of the natural world through so many artistic outputs. So too, the enduring attempts to make sense of colour- evading any single approach despite ever more sophisticated, technology-driven methods to quantifying and replicating it. Even with this creative focus, many of the speakers touched upon the complexities within these wider themes- the cost and labour of producing pigment, the processes required to collect, transport, display and depict nature, and the erasure of many people whose skills and knowledge made this possible. It was especially valuable to see beautiful examples of works produced by global artists, and to consider the contribution of women, who dominated in the art of replicating colour.

Insights into Amgueddfa Cymru’s art collections, including historical pigments, and original preparatory works by Gwen John, featuring colour annotations.

A series of tours from the Museum’s curatorial staff reinforced these themes and it was a privilege to see first-hand the enduring importance of these collections. Beginning with visual art, it was a joy to see some of Gwen John’s original paintings up close- Amgueddfa Cymru has the largest collection of her work anywhere in the world- and to learn about and the natural substances used in the creation of pigments. Gwen John’s hugely impressive body of work speaks to her complex relationship with colour and tone- developing her own notation system- a combination of numbers and evocative notes- ‘April faded pansies on the sands at night’.

Attendees being shown early examples of coloured geological maps by Duncan Hawley.

Duncan Hawley, who had spoken earlier in the conference, gave us an insight into the complexities of map-making and colouring, especially where the aim was to record geological features in a visually understandable way. Then on to botany with Senior Curator Heather Pardoe who shared a selection of the Museum’s botanical illustrations, from large-scale, vibrantly hand-coloured prints to the immediacy of delicate field sketches of fungi.

A pocket sketchbook showing field illustrations of
fungi and plants by artist and model-maker Eveline Jenkins.

With some expert manoeuvring behind the scenes from Nathan Smith, Interim Head of Plant and Earth Sciences, we were ushered into the spirit collections. Ben Rowson, Senior Curator of Invertebrate Biodiversity, highlighted the limitations of preserving colour via various preparatory methods and the importance of capturing this in descriptions, photographs and illustrations alongside the physical specimens.

Lastly, Jennifer Gallichan, Vertebrate Curator, shared the Museum’s mounted zoological collections- emphasising the strength of taxidermy as a way of maintaining colour if cared for correctly. These insights gave an opportunity to consider first-hand the way collections are records of different approaches to the natural world- both a record of biodiversity and classification as well as the social and political processes that facilitated them.

Curators Ben Rowson & Jennifer Gallichan giving behind-the-scenes tours ofAmgeuddfa Cymru’s natural history collections

A selection of bird specimens from the Museum’s collections, showing the preservation
of colour in zoological mounts.

After two thought-provoking days, my love of colour remains but now with a greater awareness of how, over centuries and across cultures, it has sparked such extraordinary efforts to capture, describe, preserve, own and understand it.

A special thank you to the Society for the History of Natural History, and to Meetings Secretary Dr Elle Larsson in particular, for providing a bursary to allow me to help organise and take part in this year’s meeting.