page_title: Ferdinando Cospi
section_title: Cabinet of Curiosities
hierarchical_section_title: Ferdinando Cospi / Cabinet of Curiosities
caption_attribution_description: English: The collection of natural curiosities of Ferdinando Cospi (1606-1686), with Cospi to the right and the dwarf Sebastiano Biavati
context_page_description: Marchese Ferdinando Cospi was a Bolognese nobleman who acquired a large collection of natural curiosities,
  donated for the use of scholars to the city of Bologna in 1657.
context_section_description: On 28 June 1660 Cospi  donated his museum to the Senate.  
  It seems that Tatto had already compiled a short printed catalog of the collection. 
  In 1667 Cospi printed, at his expense, a full description of the  ‘’Museo Cospiano’’ in five volumes.  The first two described the natural history specimens and the last three covered the archaeological objects.
  A picture of the "Cabinet of Curiosities" has been preserved.  It includes truly natural  specimens as well as some man-made specimens of fictitious animals such as a winged fish and a Hippocampus, half horse and half fish.  In the picture, the bust of Dante Alighieri forms the centerpiece of the collection.  Below and to its right is the dwarf Sebastiano Biavati, a living member of his collection, and Cospi himself stands to the right.
  The collection was combined with a collection made by Ulisse Aldrovandi.
  In 1743 the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute obtained the donation of this collection, the Naturalia Museum.
caption: The Cabinet of Curiosities
exif: {}