Abstract

In a private room for Clemens VI (1342– 1352) in the palace of the popes at Avignon, frescoes show a peaceful vision of nature with flowering trees, numerous birds, and hunting scenes. There is a strong contrast between the castle-like architecture of the tower in which the room is located and the expansive view of plants and animals offered by the paintings. All of the people in the frescoes are more or less youthful, some collecting fruits, some bathing, and others trying to catch birds or rabbits. It is a very selective impression of nature, with much left out. The experience of nature articulated in the same period by Francesco Petrarca uses very similar elements. Apart from all differences, the frescoes and the writings of Petrarca share a newly emerged interest in nature in the middle of the fourteenth century.

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