Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is celebrated as one of the greatest British scientists who ever lived, infamous for developing a theory of evolution that would forever change our understanding of the natural world. To this day the theory of evolution by natural selection is accepted by the scientific community as the best evidence-based explanation for the diversity and complexity of life. In 2006, the Museum library acquired the largest collection of works by and about Darwin in existence. The collection comprises 1,628 works written by Darwin in a range of languages. It features several different editions of various works including 477 versions of On the Origin of Species.
Charles Darwin Assets
Maria Sibylla Merian
At a time when insects were believed to magically appear, known as ‘spontaneous generation’, talented artist Maria was one of the first to closely observe and document the process of metamorphosis. Embarking on the first recorded expedition undertaken solely for the purpose of scientific research, her stunning and meticulous illustrations revolutionised the scientific community’s understanding of the life cycle of insects and their connection with their food plants. Her illustrations would be lauded by prominent naturalists and collectors, including taxonomist Carl Linnaeus. In fact, such was the detail and accuracy of Maria’s work that her illustrations of metamorphosis were celebrated by the Royal Academy over 250 years before women were even allowed to become members.
Maria Sibylla Merian Assets
John and Elizabeth Gould
John Gould was a Victorian ornithologist and publisher who described birds from all over the world. He produced 15 major works and more than 300 scientific articles and small books. His work represents an invaluable contribution to ornithology in Britain in the nineteenth century. His wife, Elizabeth, was a gifted artist. She worked alongside him, producing illustrations and more than 600 lithographs. John also worked with Charles Darwin in 1836, upon HMS Beagle's return to England. The naturalist brought specimens for Gould to catalogue, identify and name.
John & Elizabeth Gould Assets
Anna Atkins
Anna Atkins was an English botanist and photographer who is thought to be the first person ever to illustrate a book using photographic images. At a time when women were not encouraged to make serious contributions to science, Anna’s beautifully detailed blueprints of microscopic algae, plants and ferns, created using light exposure and a simple chemical process, bridged the gap between art and science and helped to deepen our visual understanding of the natural world. Anna self-published her 1843 book Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions. There are thought to be only 20 known copies. She made every print herself.
Anna Atkins Assets
John James Audubon
Audubon's masterpiece The Birds of America features some of the most stunning bird paintings of all time. The culmination of over 12 years of work, it is considered to be one of the great natural history books in status, size and value. Published 1827-1838, the book contains 435 colour plates bound into four volumes, all double elephant folio size, which is about 90 by 67 centimetres. The Natural History Museum holds two editions of Audubon's Birds of America. One of the most valuable natural history books ever published, it shows birds in natural positions and in their native habitats – an uncommon way of illustrating birds in works of science in the early nineteenth century. Using a variety of materials to create a highly dramatic style, Audubon painted almost 500 species and is today considered one of the greatest bird artists of all time.
John James Audubon Assets
Franz and Ferdinand Bauer
Franz (1758-1840) and Ferdinand (1760-1826) Bauer were highly talented artists who produced scientifically accurate work. Despite their shared vocation, the brothers followed very different life paths. Ferdinand explored the world and drew unrecorded species, while Franz settled in Britain as the resident artist at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. Relatively unknown during their lifetimes, Admired by artists and scientists alike, the Austrian brothers produced highly detailed botanical and zoological illustrations, and their work represents some of the finest examples of natural history illustration.
William Saville Kent
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, now known the Jurassic Coast, Mary made a series of remarkable finds over the course of her life. The fossil reptiles she unearthed helped scientists identify and understand the mysterious creatures that once ruled the seas and skies, but as a working-class woman, she was denied academic acclaim. When Mary was only 12 or 13, she found the first articulated skeleton of an ichthyosaur, a type of marine reptile that swam in Jurassic seas. She later discovered the first complete plesiosaur skeleton, which initially baffled scientists, and she also discovered the first pterosaur skeleton in England. Despite her working-class background and lack of formal training, Mary taught herself anatomy and become quite an expert in the subject of marine palaeontology.
William Saville Kent Assets
John Reeves
The Museum's Indian and Chinese art collections consist chiefly of pieces commissioned by officials working for the East India Company in the late eighteenth and mid-nineteenth century. John Reeves worked as a tea merchant with the East India Company in China. He was a keen amateur naturalist and artist. Specimens from all over Asia appear in his collection. Reeves's work in the trading port of Canton, China, gave him access to exotic flora and fauna from all over the continent. He became a correspondent with the Horticultural Society of London sending specimens and drawings back to England. On the death of Reeves's son, John Russell Reeves, who shared his father's love of natural history, his widow presented the drawings he had inherited from his father to the Museum.
John Reeves Assets
Mary Anning
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, now known the Jurassic Coast, Mary made a series of remarkable finds over the course of her life. The fossil reptiles she unearthed helped scientists identify and understand the mysterious creatures that once ruled the seas and skies, but as a working-class woman, she was denied academic acclaim. When Mary was only 12 or 13, she found the first articulated skeleton of an ichthyosaur, a type of marine reptile that swam in Jurassic seas. She later discovered the first complete plesiosaur skeleton, which initially baffled scientists, and she also discovered the first pterosaur skeleton in England. Despite her working-class background and lack of formal training, Mary taught herself anatomy and become quite an expert in the subject of marine palaeontology.
Mary Anning Assets
Sarah Stone
Sarah Stone (1760-1844) was a British natural history illustrator and painter. The daughter of a fan painter, she began painting at seventeen, learning her colouring skills from her father. Her works included many studies of specimens brought back to England from expeditions in Australia and the Pacific. As the first illustrations of many species, her work is scientifically significant. She often depicted species that she had never seen in real life, working only from animal skins from Australia that were reconstructed by a taxidermist in London or even entirely from the field notes of scientists on the expeditions.
Sarah Stone Assets
Clara Maria Pope
Clara Maria Pope was a British painter and botanical artist. Originally an artist’s model, Clara taught herself to draw to support her family after her husband’s death. Her talents developed as a botanical artist, and she went on to become art instructor to women of the royal family. Her contributions to Samuel Curtis’ long standing Botanical Magazine as well as his 1819 publication Monograph of the Genus Camellia earned her much praise.
Clara Maria Pope Assets
Dr Robert John Thornton
Robert John Thornton (1768-1837) was an English physician and botanical writer. His work was to comprise three parts: a dissertation on the sexual reproductive cycle of plants, an explanation of Linnaeus’s plant system, lavishly illustrated with botanical plates and portraits of botanists; and The Temple of Flora, with no less than seventy large plates of exotic plant species arranged according to the classification of Linnaeus. Each species appeared in its native environment.
Robert John Thornton Assets
Pierre Joseph Redouté
Pierre Joseph Redouté is regarded as one of the greatest and celebrated flower painters of his day. Born in Belgium, he studied the paintings of the great Flemish masters before going onto become a master of botanical painting in his own right. Working for the French royal court as a tutor to Marie Antoinette, he is best known for his paintings of roses and lilies.
Pierre Joseph Redouté Assets
Margaret Bushby Lascelles Cockburn
Mary Anning was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, now known the Jurassic Coast, Mary made a series of remarkable finds over the course of her life. The fossil reptiles she unearthed helped scientists identify and understand the mysterious creatures that once ruled the seas and skies, but as a working-class woman, she was denied academic acclaim. When Mary was only 12 or 13, she found the first articulated skeleton of an ichthyosaur, a type of marine
Margaret Bushby Lascelles Cockburn Assets
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