… for beautiful caterpillars
produce rather ugly moths,
and ugly caterpillars produce
very beautiful butterflies.
produce rather ugly moths,
and ugly caterpillars produce
very beautiful butterflies.
With this year-round exhibition the Zeeuws Museum is celebrating the 400th year of birth of fellow townsman Johannes Goedaert (1617–1668). As a fijnschilder-naturalist he sows the seeds of what later becomes an actual field of study: entomology, the study of insects. For 33 years Goedaert cultivates, studies, draws and describes the transformations of flies, maggots, caterpillars and beetles: … not on the basis of books, but discovered, described and drawn solely on the basis of individual experience. In his magnum opus Metamorphosis Naturalis Goedaert addresses his audience as good-willed readers, as if he is not yet sure of his clever style of writing or the value of his pioneering work. Yet his writings are still worth reading to this day, and his drawings have a fresh and refined look. Despite having little renown today, the research by Goedaert constitutes perhaps the most prominent scientific study ever carried out in Zeeland.
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In an age when knowledge seems accessible with a mere click, Goedaert reminds us of the importance of looking anew, questioning and taking notice of that which seems distasteful. Individual observation, the practice of patience and the long-term gathering of facts can help us to arrive at
new insights, values or truths. The enthusiasm is catching; art and science appear to go hand in hand.