DANIELA BLEICHMAR. Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment.

Abstract

In her introduction to Visible Empire: Botanical Expeditions and Visual Culture in the Hispanic Enlightenment, Daniela Bleichmar declares the formidable objectives of her study: “A consideration of the history of Spain's scientific expeditions in the Enlightenment and the history of the use of visual evidence in both science and administration in the early modern Spanish empire through an examination of 12,000 botanical images, held in the archives of Spain's Royal Botanical Gardens (Madrid)” (p. 5). Through her carefully written analysis and a thorough evaluation of ninety-three images, Bleichmar accomplishes this goal and demonstrates the effectiveness of visual culture analysis as a tool for excavating and understanding the global and ideological complexities of Spain's colonial project in the Spanish Americas of the eighteenth century. Spanish study of natural history, as explained by Bleichmar, was undergirded by visual epistemology, a way of knowing based on visuality that encompassed both observation and representation (p. 8). This concept provides a critical pathway to transcend the mesmerizing beauty of the botanical prints she examines in the next five chapters and investigate the use of visual evidence to impose order in scientific studies as well as administrative practices. The first chapter provides an overview of natural history expeditions to the Spanish Americas, which sought both scientific and economic advancement. Authorities connected visuality and utility to support these exploratory projects and make the Spanish empire visible. The results were circulated through a network of Spanish and colonial institutions such as botanical gardens and natural history cabinets as well as publications. At the same time, scholars, scientists, and administrators within the viceroyalties actively deployed visual materials to express their local understanding of the environment. Chapter two elucidates the field practices of visual epistemology. Libraries of botanical books were necessary for the collection, classification, and assessment of specimens by scientists. Questions, observations, and controversies, however, would be framed in visual terms, not just as comparisons of textual descriptions. Consequently, the images were crucial to these studies and gained the capacity to function as proxies that could travel successfully, erasing geography and distance, in pursuit of scientific exchange.