Nature and the Natural as themes in Art

The history of western man trying to understand nature,
beyond thinking of nature as an extension of a god,
can be traced to the European "cabinets of wonder."

When men desired encyclopedic knowledge of the world around them,
they collected then categorized information. Collections represented prestige-
the more items and
the rarer the items, the more prestigious the collection.
The ruling principle was that
careful organization and categorization would lead to
useful knowledge.