Antique Natural History Art

The Museum's collection of more than 4,000 engravings and lithographs represent a sampling of European and American natural history illustrations from the 17th to 19th centuries. They were made during an era in which the world's flora and fauna were being described for the first time. As European voyages of exploration discovered new lands beyond the boundaries of the known world, naturalists and artists collected and recorded their findings bringing back vast collections of plants and animals new to science. Once home, the artist’s drawings were engraved onto copper plates and published for a public eager to see these exotic new discoveries.

Antique natural history prints help us to understand how the sciences developed and show how people communicated in an earlier age. Originally used for scientific identification, as printing methods improved and more artists were involved, they became sought after for their intrinsic beauty–a blend of art and science.