In her lecture "Darwin's Diagram," Professor of Art and Archaeology, Rachael DeLue, explores the one and only diagram in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species when it waspublished in 1859.

Often described as a “tree of life,” the diagram represents divergence of character, a principle at the heart of Darwin’s theory of evolution. A significant departure from prevailing conventions of scientific illustration, Darwin's minimalist diagram appears to add little to his account. So why did Darwin include it? And why, apart from the diagram, did he in _On the Origin of Species _eschew illustrations, a staple of his earlier publications? And why _this _illustration, given its marginal capacity to signify? In her talk, Rachael DeLue considers these questions, which form part of a larger project on Impossible Images and the Perils of Picturing.

Rachael DeLue is the Christopher Binyon Sarofim ’86 Professor in American Art and Old Dominion Research Professor at the Humanities Council for the academic year 2019-2020.