Consider the Mediterranean monk seal. The mammal has been prized on the Italian peninsula since ancient times, hunted for its meat, fur, oil, and medicinal properties—so much so that by the 16th century the animal had been pushed to the verge of extinction. But you wouldn’t guess such commercial prominence judging by its few appearances in Italian art. Its likeness is engraved on the occasional prehistoric cave and a handful of ancient coins and vases, but across Italian paintings from the 16th through to the 18th centuries, only Arcimboldo granted the monk seal a cameo.

While its population collapse may help explain the lack of painterly love, another factor is likely to blame: the seal was considered inauspicious and grouped among sea monsters in ancient myths and religious writings, a superstition that endured into the Christian era. This is one conclusion drawn by a group of French researchers who recently surveyed 384 Italian still-life paintings depicting “inanimate aquatic organisms”—fish, octopi, oysters, crabs, turtles, eels, sharks, corals, and many more besides. The works span some 60 painters, including the likes of Raphael, Bartolomeo Passerotti, Bernardo Strozzi, and Vincenzo Campi.

Still life showing overturned baskets spilling fish, lobsters, squid, shells, and crabs across rocky foreground landscape.

Giovan Battista Ruoppolo, Still Life with Fish (c. 1675). 


Photo: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images via Getty Images.

The goal was not to track down the humble monk seal, but rather to use 200 years of painting as a historical record that could reveal insights on Italy’s aquatic biodiversity. The paintings make a handy proxy. Across the Mediterranean, scientific records, where they do exist, are incomplete. This problem is exacerbated in Italy by its late unification, which has meant many historical documents remain dispersed and largely undigitized. Into this relative vacuum, the researchers thrust paintings of kitchens, banquets, fishmonger stalls, and delectable spreads from the early modern period, whose naturalistic qualities make differentiating a spiny lobster from a mantis shrimp possible. The name in Italian for the Flemish-inspired movement? Cose naturali, literally “natural things.”

To analyze the Mediterranean’s aquatic biodiversity, the paintings were divided into three geographic zones—inland, Adriatic (eastern Italy), and Liguro-Tyrrhenian (western Italy)—with experts then identifying the organisms. There were 94 in total, though some remained “cryptic,” and the findings were published in Nature on September 2.


Still life showing basket of fish with onions and kitchenware, including flounder, bream, mullet, and marine shells.

Jacob van der Kerckhoven, Still life With Fish and Vegetables (1657–1712).  


Photo: Public domain.

“Our research highlights the powerful role of paintings in reconstructing past exploited ecosystems,” the researchers from Aix-Marseille University wrote. “It offers a unique perspective for informing contemporary conservation efforts.”

While the precise lessons that modern conservationists might draw remain hazy, the study does provide some intriguing insights into population shifts and changing human habits. Most straightforwardly, freshwater fish, such as carp and pike, were most prominent in inland paintings, and coastal paintings exhibited a wider diversity of marine organisms.

A turning point occurs in the middle of the 17th century. Representations of freshwater organisms fall precipitously across all paintings, decreasing by half from 1500 to 1800. Conversely, marine organisms increase dramatically. The numbers of squid, octopus, and cuttlefish grow significantly and some organisms, such as stargazer fish and moray eels, begin appearing in paintings for the first time.

The researchers cite two major forces. First, the habitats of freshwater organisms are impacted by wetland drainage for agriculture, which takes off in the second half of the 17th century. Second, the development of more advanced marine fishing techniques, such as longlines and bottom trawling, diversified the hauls of fishermen, drawing in deep-lying organisms and sharks. Overfishing also played a role in the decreasing presence of marine turtles, saltwater clams, and sturgeon, which fell nearly 60 percent across the period.

Dark marine still life showing octopus, fish, lobsters, squid, coral, and assorted sea creatures.

Francesco Della Questa, Still Life With Fish, Shellfish, and Crustaceans. 


Photo: DeAgostini / Getty Images.

Taste also played a role. Given that it was often affluent families commissioning the works, painters tended to avoid organisms considered fodder for the masses, including sardines, anchovies, and eels, even though they were all heavily fished. Vibrant or aesthetically pleasing species, such as red mullet or seahorses, abound, as do those connected with religious meanings, such as red coral, which sometimes symbolizes the blood of Christ.

“These pictorial representations were produced before the development and widespread use of photography,” the researchers wrote. “Art therefore seems to provide a significant, if as yet little recognized, source of ecological information about the past.” All the same, a monk seal might disagree.


The Clever Boy thinks this may give his readers something to reflect upon as they prepare and eat their Friday fish tomorrow.