Fertilization of Egypt, from Erasmus Darwin's "The Botanic Garden"
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
image: 7 5/8 x 6 in. (19.4 x 15.2 cm) sheet: 10 1/8 x 7 13/16 in. (25.7 x 19.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1968
Accession Number
68.540.10
Art Historical Context
In the lush poetic world of Erasmus Darwin's *The Bot Garden* (1791), the engraving *Fertilization of* vividly captures a metaphorical scene from the poem's second part, *The Loves of the Plants*. Darwin, a pioneering physician, naturalist, and grandfather of Charles Darwin, used botanical allegory to explore themes of science, evolution, and human progress during the Enlightenment. Here, the Nile's life-giving floods symbolize renewal and fertility, blending classical mythology with emerging scientific ideas in a Romantic fervor. Designed by the dramatic Swiss-born artist Henry Fuseli and ma...
About the Artist
Erasmus Darwin|William Blake|Henry Fuseli (British|British|Swiss) · 1731 |1757 |1741 –1802 |1827 |1825
British, 1731–1802|British, London 1757–1827 London|Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London