Exhibition “Illustrated Natures. The van Berkhey Collection of the National Museum of Natural Sciences”

Abstract

“Illustrated Natures”, inaugurated at the National Museum of Natural Sciences on April 29, 2014, is the first monographic exhibition dedicated to the van Berkhey collection in Spain, almost 230 years after its acquisition. In fact, the collection remained ignored, after the death of Franco Dávila in 1786, throughout the 19th century and a good part of the 20th century, until during the 1980s it was discovered that it was being looted. The first publications were then started by the then director of the Museum, Emiliano Aguirre, Mª Ángeles Calatayud, head of the Archive, and Soledad Vicente, head of the Library, while, simultaneously, most of the material that had been stolen was recovered. After the architectural remodeling of the Museum, the collection has had a continued presence in the permanent exhibition El Real Gabinete de Historia Natural, inaugurated in 1994 and renovated in 2011, and in various temporary exhibitions outside the Museum.