The role of pre-19th century art in conservation biology: An untapped potential for connecting with nature

Research exploring nature connectedness has shown that these relationships influence worldviews, values, attitudes and behaviors towards nature. In this context, natural areas that are difficult to access, such as aquatic ecosystems, lead to questions concerning the need for mediation tools capable of modulating human behavior through indirect exposure. Art has been recognized as an efficient lever in this objective, as it triggers emotional, cognitive and experiential interactions. Despite a growing interest in integrating art into environmental education, prior research has mainly focused on post-19th century art. We believe, however, that pre-19th century European art presents an opportunity to connect with nature while enhancing historical and cultural heritage. We thus propose a research framework dedicated to the quantifiable study of the interrelations between aesthetic experience, behaviors, and nature connectedness (especially relating to aquatic ecosystems) using a case study approach to examine aquatic nature as represented in pre-19th century European paintings. •There is a need to further study the effect of aesthetic experience on nature connectedness and pro-environmental behaviors.•The integration of art in conservation biology and environmental education has mainly concerned post-19th century art.•Pre-19th c. European art presents an untapped opportunity to participate in nature connectedness through aesthetic experience.•This approach is particularly suitable for the promotion and conservation of aquatic ecosystems to which people are generally only indirectly exposed.