scholarly journals DEPICTING THE INVISIBLE: WELWITSCH'S MAP OF TRAVELLERS IN AFRICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
SARA ALBUQUERQUE ◽  
SILVIA FIGUEIRÔA
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
National Museum ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Historical Document ◽  
Historia Natural ◽  
Scientific Networks ◽  
Different Parts ◽  
The Invisible

ABSTRACT This paper addresses a nineteenth century African manuscript map which has hitherto remained ‘invisible’. This manuscript was produced by Friedrich Welwitsch (1806–1872), an Austrian botanist in the service of the Portuguese government, and held by the National Museum of Natural History and Science, University of Lisbon Museums/Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência, Museus da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal (MUHNAC). This historical document contains names of several travellers, many of them ‘invisible’ explorers, located in different parts of the African continent, depicting the relationships in both a visual and geographical way with notes and relevant historical observations. Welwitsch, as so many contemporary fellow botanists, was in contact with many scientists, exchanging not only correspondence but knowledge and collections. This map is a key document, a true hub of Welwitsch's network of knowledge in which the scientific networks, the types of actors, interactions, methodologies and practices of botany are revealed, providing insights into the botanical exchanges that contributed to the making of Welwitsch's African collections.

scholarly journals Casa dos pássaros: local de preparação de material zoológico a ser enviado para Portugal

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 3-22
Author(s):  
José Mário D´Almeida ◽  
Regina Dantas
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
History Of Biology ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Santa Catarina ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historia Natural

ResumoA Casa de História Natural, conhecida pela população do Rio de Janeiro como Casa dos Pássaros foi criada por pelo Vice-Rei D. Luis de Vasconcelos em 1784 e extinta em 1813 por D. João VI. Para conduzir os trabalhos nessa instituição, o Vice-Rei convidou um artista plástico catarinense conhecido por Xavier dos Pássaros que, apesar de autodidata, preparou excelente material zoológico para ser enviado para Portugal. Com essa pesquisa espera-se elucidar algumas dúvidas, se a Casa dos Pássaros foi realmente precursora do Museu Nacional, como também, o destino dado ao material zoológico preparado por Xavier dos Pássaros, após a extinção da Casa de História Natural.Palavras – Chave: História da Biologia; Museu Nacional; Rio de Janeiro.AbstractThe House of Natural History, known by the population of Rio de Janeiro as House of the Birds was created by the Lord-Lieutenant D. Luis de Vasconcelos in 1784 and extinguished in 1813 by D. João VI. In order to conduct the work in this institution, the Lord-Lieutenant invited a Santa Catarina artist known by Xavier dos Pássaros that, self-taught, prepared excellent zoological material to be sent to Portugal. With this research it is hoped to elucidate some doubts, if the House of the Birds was really precursor of the National Museum, as well as the destiny given to the zoological material prepared by Xavier dos Pássaros, after the extinction of the House of Natural History. Keywords: History of Biology; National Museum; Rio de Janeiro.

George Victor Du Noyer’s large format paintings: Nineteenth-century lecture slides

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Alastair Parkes
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Geological Survey ◽  
Lecture Hall ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Large Format ◽  
Ordnance Survey ◽  
Lecture Series ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Public Lecture

ABSTRACT The National Museum of Ireland’s natural history collections include a range of large format artworks, many of paleontological subjects, which were painted by George Victor Du Noyer, the celebrated nineteenth-century geologist, antiquarian, and artist who worked for both the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and the Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI). Letterbook references in the archives of GSI indicate that most, if not all of these, were commissioned by Joseph Beete Jukes, director of the GSI, for different public lecture series. The artistic qualities of the work suggest they were done at speed. However, they also are designed to be seen from a distance within a lecture hall, so an apparently crude technique is appropriate to the purpose. In effect, the watercolor paintings in this series are the PowerPoint presentation of the 1850s.

Edward Blyth, John M'Clelland, the curatorship of the Asiatic Society's collections and the origins of the Calcutta journal of natural history

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mathew
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Part Time

This paper explores the origins of the Calcutta journal of natural history (1841–1848) and the search from the 1830s for a permanent curator for the collections of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Edward Blyth (1810–1873) was appointed, even though John M'Clelland (or McClelland) (1805–1883), who founded the Calcutta journal of natural history, had acted as part-time curator of the collections for two years before Blyth's arrival in Calcutta. An analysis of the Society and the journal allows reconsideration of the significance of natural history in India in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Dupont family: collectors, dealers and naturalists in nineteenth-century Paris

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Mearns ◽  
Laurent Chevrier ◽  
Christophe Gouraud
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Family History ◽  
Natural History ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Anatomical Models ◽  
The Family ◽  
Small Collection

In the early part of the nineteenth century the Dupont brothers ran separate natural history businesses in Paris. Relatively little is known about their early life but an investigation into the family history at Bayeux corrects Léonard Dupont's year of birth from 1795 to 1796. In 1818 Léonard joined Joseph Ritchie's expedition to North Africa to assist in collecting and preparing the discoveries but he did not get beyond Tripoli. After 15 months he came back to Paris with a small collection from Libya and Provence, and returned to Provence in 1821. While operating as a dealer-naturalist in Paris he published Traité de taxidermie (1823, 1827), developed a special interest in foreign birds and became well known for his anatomical models in coloured wax. Henry Dupont sold a range of natural history material and with his particular passion for beetles formed one of the finest collections in Europe; his best known publication is Monographie des Trachydérides (1836–1840). Because the brothers had overlapping interests and were rarely referred to by their forenames there has been confusion between them and the various eponyms that commemorate them. Although probably true, it would be an over-simplification to state that birds of this era named for Dupont refer to Léonard Dupont, insects to Henry Dupont, and molluscs to their mother.

Peeping at nature with the Reverend Charles A. Hall FRMS (1872–1965)

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Visual Appeal ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Simple Language ◽  
Quality Production

Attention is drawn to the contents, pedagogic style and visual appeal of the 17-volume “Peeps at nature” series published by A. & C. Black between 1911 and 1935. Edited by the Reverend Charles Albert Hall (a Swedenborgian minister), who also contributed most of the titles, this series was a quality production but one that was cheap enough to be readily accessible to young readers. Its volumes were written in simple language and included colour pictures. With time, the flamboyant artistry of the covers that so characterized the earlier volumes was replaced by more muted designs, possibly to reduce production costs. Later contributors abandoned anthropomorphism and the moralizing tone of many nineteenth-century popularizers of natural history, although styles of writing varied between the early and later contributors to the series, becoming less technical with time.

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