Andrew Griebeler, "Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

May 12, 2025

Andrew Griebeler, an assistant professor at Duke University, dives into the fascinating world of premodern botanical illustrations. He reveals how these captivating artworks served both as scientific documents and art, shaping our understanding of botany. Griebeler discusses the evolution of botanical texts, often challenging the notion of decline in plant knowledge during the medieval period. He emphasizes the interconnectedness of Greek, Arabic, and Latin traditions, showcasing the rich tapestry of styles and techniques that influenced modern botanical illustration.

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INSIGHT

Premodern Botanical Illustrations' Role

Premodern botanical illustrations were dynamic tools for conveying plant knowledge, not mere copies with errors.
Images often guided understanding more than text, serving as a critical method of learning about plants visually.

INSIGHT

Early Botanical Illustration Purpose

Early botanical illustrations' purpose was to show medicinal plants with names and uses, not detailed morphology.
Visuals were initially substitutes for verbal descriptions of appearance, evolving over time to include detailed traits.

ANECDOTE

Whimsical Medieval Illustrations

Some medieval images whimsically added comic masks reflecting verbal descriptions rather than real plant features.
Illustrations sometimes reversed engineer visuals from text when direct observation or original images were unavailable.

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A richly illustrated account of how premodern botanical illustrations document evolving knowledge about plants and the ways they were studied in the past.

Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean (U Chicago Press, 2024) traces the history of botanical illustration in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the early modern period. By examining Greek, Latin, and Arabic botanical inquiry in this early era, Andrew Griebeler shows how diverse and sophisticated modes of plant depiction emerged and ultimately gave rise to practices now recognized as central to modern botanical illustration. The author draws on centuries of remarkable and varied documentation from across Europe and the Mediterranean.

Lavishly illustrated, Botanical Icons marshals ample evidence for a dynamic and critical tradition of botanical inquiry and nature observation in the late antique and medieval Mediterranean. The author reveals that many of the critical practices characteristic of modern botanical illustrations began in premodern manuscript culture. Consequently, he demonstrates that the distinctions between pre- and early modern botanical illustration center more on the advent of print, the expansion of collections and documentation, and the narrowing of the range of accepted forms of illustration than on the invention of critical and observational practices exclusive to modernity.

Griebeler’s emphasis on continuity, intercultural collaboration, and the gradual transformation of Mediterranean traditions of critical botanical illustration persuasively counters previously prevalent narratives of rupture and Western European exceptionalism in the histories of art and science.

New Books in Late Antiquity is Presented by Ancient Jew Review.

Andrew Griebeler is assistant professor in the depart of Art, Art History and Visual Studies at Duke University. With students and other faculty at Duke, he is also helping to document the legacy of the Duke Herbarium on Instagram (@bluedevil.herbarium) before its closure by the university.

Michael Motia teaches in Classics and Religious Studies at UMass Boston.

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