Let the secret sink into the sea of ignorance. Sonia will think of this sentence every time she sees this globe. She brought the globe to the office to remind herself:
The more knowledge you have about Australians, the closer you are to something terrifying.
She was somewhat uneasy. It's better not to be in the office anymore and go to the specimen room to finish all the work at hand.
Sonia was about to leave the office when there was a knock on the office door.
"Please come in!"
She thought her two "apprentices" were back, but she didn't expect that it was her "colleague" who came in: Valentina Marino.
Valentina is also one of the female slaves sold by Quark. She is an Italian woman - to be precise, a subject of the Papal States. North African pirates looted the village where she lived and kidnapped her. She was then trafficked to Basra and then to Lingao.
Compared with Sonia, Valentina Marino is a newcomer, having been in high school for less than two years.
Soon after arriving in Lingao, she was bought by Dong Yizhi, a veteran of the education department. Without exception, Mr. Dong’s maids all worked as teachers in Fangcaodi. So his training plan for Valentina was the same at the beginning. However, he immediately realized that it was too difficult to train a girl who only spoke 17th-century Italian to become a qualified teacher-the language training alone would take at least two or three years. Even if she can speak Chinese in a few years, it will be difficult for her to teach as a liberal arts or science teacher. After all, Valentina Marino was only semi-literate in Italy and could only read and write simply in Italian. Let alone changing a language.
After thinking about it, Dong Yizhi suddenly got inspiration from her national attributes: Isn't she Italian? There are many Italian artists. The imperial artist of the Senate was also an Italian. In this case, it is better to train her to be an artist.
So Valentina was sent to the studio of her compatriot Trini and began her journey as an artist as his student.
Trini naturally welcomed this compatriot from Italy. He had not seen an Italian-speaking compatriot in the Far East for many years. Of course, he was also very careful - after all, this girl from the Papal State was now the senator's maid.
In more than a year, Miss Valentina roughly mastered basic sketching and color techniques, and was able to paint still lifes and simple watercolor landscapes. According to the teaching process, after the basic painting course is completed, you should start to consider the professional direction. ,
Quite different from what Dong Yizhi thought, Valentina did not show much talent in painting. Although she was technically capable of participating in the National Art Entrance Examination in the 21st century and reaching the provincial-controlled undergraduate score, Trini was very impressed with her. The evaluation of the work is: "accurate perspective, attention to details, poor control of light and shadow. The overall work is dull and not vivid."
Obviously it is impossible to train her into an all-round artist in the 17th century. Dong Yizhi couldn't figure out the reason, so he asked Trini to continue to teach painting - in the future, he could become an art teacher in Fangcaodi. At this time, the Natural History Museum, which was under preparation, extended an olive branch to her.
The Natural History Museum needs a professional painter, to be precise, a "natural history painter".
In an era before photography was invented, the only way to visually record something, a person or something was to draw. As for natural history, even in the 19th century, photography technology was already available. However, due to the limited photography and printing capabilities at that time, the expression of real objects in photos still lacked sufficient details.
At that time, almost every naturalist or enthusiast who went on field trips in person, in addition to bringing back physical objects to make specimens, record and describe them in words, often also worked part-time as a painter to make special depictions with a high degree of restoration. ——For a long time before human technology invented sophisticated high-resolution imaging technology, they used paintings to record photos.
Although naturalists can preserve the forms and bodies of animals and plants by collecting specimens, no matter soaked or dried (taxidermy), lifeless specimens will quickly dry up and deform, losing their freshness. This is especially evident in plant specimens. Moreover, the collection of plant specimens is affected by the seasons, and it is difficult to express its entire life cycle at one time.
In contrast, fine paintings can display the forms of animals and plants very completely and comprehensively. It can depict the details of roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, etc. of a certain species on the same piece of paper. It can present corresponding close-ups in full accordance with scientific needs, and is accompanied by a scale.
The special painting form of natural history painting came into being. The origins of this particular painting technique are very ancient. At least during the Renaissance, similar drawing techniques were already present in the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci and others. If we go back to more ancient times, in the classical natural history works of various civilizations around the world, authors have already begun to try to use simple paintings to depict various forms of animals and plants.
Natural history painting gradually developed from early line drawings and sketches, and developed corresponding unique painting techniques. It flourished into the 20th century. Even in the 21st century, this painting technique is still used in a few areas. A typical representative is the medical anatomy atlas. Anyone who has studied medicine is familiar with this type of map. Most geological exploration personnel also master a special kind of natural history painting: geological terrain sketch.
Even in the old time and space when high-definition photography technology has become cheap and popular, the choices for various professional maps are still various museum paintings instead of photos. Its practical value can be seen.
The elders of the remote exploration team, except for a few elders with geological background who could draw geological sketches, actually did not have the ability to draw natural history paintings. This ability was very important for the exploration and investigation in the 17th century, so the exploration team As soon as it was established, we started cultivating ourselves.
However, there were actually no professionals in the Senate who could draw museum paintings. So this is basically self-study based on the materials provided by the big library.
Although painting requires talent, under the guidance of experienced teachers, even those with zero foundation and three years of intensive study in high school can achieve it by entering the eight major art academies. The problem was that the Senate did not have "experienced teachers" at the time, and there were no professional back home. It is obviously quite difficult to master natural history painting skills through self-study. After a lot of hard work, except for a few veterans who came from geological surveying and had sketching foundation, everyone else's achievements were hard to describe.
Trini's arrival brings them hope. Although this Italian painter is only an unknown person in the history of art, it is undeniable that his painting skills are as good as those of five hundred elders. Dr. Zhong gave him various reference materials compiled by the big book on natural history painting techniques and several picture albums for him to learn and copy. At the same time, Bai Guoshi and Zhao Xue were specially assigned to study with him. Because Trini's observation is still an artist's observation, he must be taught to observe with a scientist's perspective.
Professionals are indeed professionals. Trini lived up to expectations and mastered the relevant skills of museum painting in half a year. The couple Bai and Zhao also achieved pretty good results.
Dr. Zhong's confidence greatly increased, and he immediately wrote to the Planning Institute in the name of "technology as the primary productive force", suggesting that Trini suspend all painting and decoration work and instead specialize in natural history painting training. The training targets are naturalized students who have mastered basic painting skills such as sketching and coloring in Trini's training class.
As soon as the news spread, it received an enthusiastic response. Only then did Dr. Zhong realize that all departments had a demand for museum paintings. In particular, the demand for health care and agricultural care is particularly strong.
Due to the strong demand, the Planning Institute not only approved Dr. Zhong’s suggestion, but also specially coordinated and decided not to assign the first batch of students for the time being, but to extend the training period as “Natural Painting Normal Students”. After these students graduate, they will serve as "seed" teachers in the "Museum Painting Training Class".
Valentina Marino then became a member of the "Natural History Painting Training Class", that is, the disciples of this group of "seeds" - but because of her special status and the bonus of her compatriots, she was particularly Rini took special care of her and often gave her personal guidance. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was "personally taught".
After the six-month natural history painting training class, Valentina officially arrived at the Natural History Museum and became a full-time natural history painter.
Of course Sonia is no stranger to natural history painting, but to be honest, her painting skills are very limited. Coupled with her pregnancy and childbirth, she has not been able to receive professional natural history painting training, so she has to rely on Valentina Mali for many jobs. He is a professional naturalist painter like Nuo.
"Miss Sharpe! All the paintings of the expedition team have been painted. Please take a look." Valentina is actually younger than Sonia, but her personality is quiet and calm. Although they are both maids of the senator, Valentina, who was born into a peasant family, naturally has a sense of class respect for Sonia, who was born into a noble family.
Sonia doesn't speak Italian, and Valentina used to speak only Italian. Therefore, communication between them was carried out through a kind of "Newspeak" of the Senate. This is also the usual way of communication among foreign maids.
"That's great." Sonia's spirits lifted. These museum paintings are based on living plants and specimens brought by the recently returned eastern Taiwan expedition team. Sonia has already visited many areas in Tainan and western Tainan. However, little is known about the Taitung region, which has always been known as the "isolated land island".
She was not selected for the expedition team to the Hualien area of Taitung that started half a year ago because she had just given birth, which was a bit regretful. Now it's a relief to be able to see the results with my own eyes.
(End of chapter)
