Author and Work Detail: This fascinating, folio engraving is from Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Physica Sacra. The work was published in Augsburg und Ulm between 1731 and 1735. Each engraving features highly decorative borders which feature biblical and scientific depictions. The plates were by J. M. Fussli & J. D. Preissler.
Physica Sacra combined theological and scientific practices in an attempt to reconcile biblical passages with the new sciences of the time. The work is an extraordinary illustrated natural history work, and a great example of the decorative nature of the 18th century copper engraving.
Scheuchzer was a founder of paleobotany and European paleontology, as well as a professor of mathematics and physics. He believed the Old Testament was a factual account of the history of the world and set out to reconcile the Bible with modern sciences and thus prove the existence of God through Science.
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