Drawn from the Sea

The power of art to convey truths about the natural world is nowhere in evidence as much as in the depiction of creatures that live in the sea. Convincingly drawing the image of a living animal that quickly lost its shape and color once out of its environment was the artist’s task in an era before photography. Gathered and documented by zoologists and artists traveling with natural history expeditions, specimens of previously unknown life forms were brought back to the capitols of Europe for later study. Engraved from the original drawings, a visual record was created of some of the most significant and beautiful discoveries in the history of natural science exploration.