Natural history art and modern imaging techniques help scientists research, record and classify the natural world. While the images are often beautiful, they also need to be detailed and accurate to be useful to science.

The desire to understand and systematically classify the natural world was prompted by the discovery of so many species new to science in the 17th and 18th centuries. Recording species visually became an essential element of this process and is as important today as it was 300 years ago. As science developed, imaging styles evolved and techniques changed.

There are two kinds of prints in the Maximus Collection, engravings and lithographs. Each subcategory addresses different methods employed to color the plates after they have been printed.