Horses, Curiosities, and the Culture of Collection at Early Modern Germanic Courts

Abstract

This article offers a new interpretation of the concept of wonder in early modern Europe by focusing on large collections. It shows that many princely Kunstkammern were located above stables, and argues that the horses downstairs and the curiosities upstairs performed similar roles in the courtly display of power. The size and design of stables shaped how curiosities were exhibited and viewed. These majestic buildings facilitated cursory viewing experiences of the assemblage of a great number of animals and objects. They did not necessarily encourage the detailed examination of particular and unique exhibits.

Horse racing: Unnatural selection in the renaissance

“…In France, by the early sixteenth century, “race,” “blood,” and “nation” were becoming deeply intertwined in discussions of humans and animals (Aubert, 2004; Boulle, 2002; Jouanna, 1976). During the same period, German courts adopted the Italian term razza and arranged their animal collections to draw parallels between genealogical portraits of human nobles and the “noble horses in the stable,” which, as Daniel Margócsy has suggested, “could also be considered as members of a genealogical chain” (Margócsy, 2021). In the Italian‐speaking contexts on which this essay focuses, the word razza took on a mix of taxonomic and generative elements.…”