Description
Medium: Watercolour illustration.
Summary: This unpublished scientific illustration (No. XII) of the caterpillars & pupae of an Emperor Gum-Moth, Opodiphthera eucalypti, (as Antheraea Eucalypti), and the host plant, from near Melbourne, by Arthur Bartholomew, April 1860. Bartholomew also illustrated the adult moth (PZD 221).
The work was commissioned by Sir Frederick McCoy, Director of Museum Victoria as part of his zoological research. It forms part of the much larger Prodromus Collection. Many of the oriignal illustrations in the collection informed the production of the two volume work 'The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria' which was Museum Victoria's first major publication from 1878. The Prodromus project followed a popular formula of the time, seeking to identify and classify the natural wonders of the 'new world'.
For over 40 years McCoy would bring specimens to Bartholomew who observed and nurtured specifically for illustration. Bartholomew was methodical and the quality of illustrations was both consistent and flawless. In this illustration his method is clearly revealed. Having noticed a larva which had spun itself into a cocoon, or the emergence of a perfect moth from its chrysalis, he would then carry the specimen to his drafting table and set to capture its exact likeness and colour. Examining his subject under a magnifying glass, Bartholomew would first describe the form with fine pencil lines, before building up overlapping washes of watercolour and eventually adding glazes of varnish and gum Arabic. At last he would capture the colour saturation and level of sheen in each part of the specimen, achieving a subtle three-dimensionality reproducing both likeness and texture.
Publications such as the Prodromus reached a peak in popularity with the work of John Gould in England and the earlier work of James Audobon in America. In Australia, many professional and amateur publications, including Aldine's systematic studies of the colonies and Louise Anne Meredith's Bush Friends From Tasmania, contributed to the genre.The publication of the Prodromus was an enormous undertaking, utilising the work of numerous artists, collectors, lithographers and publishers, over an extended period of time. McCoy died without completing his systematic study, but even at the time few believed that 'any of us will live to witness the completion of the work, if the entire Fauna of Victoria is to be illustrated.' Although costly in both financial and professional terms, the Prodromus was met with critical acclaim and wide popular support. Financial battles were waged and lost by McCoy, but ultimately the Prodromus has stood the test of time and remains one of Museum Victoria's finest publications.
Physical description: Emperor Gum-moth, Opodiphthera eucalypti, by Arthur Bartholomew. Illustration - pencil, watercolour, ink and varnish on paper, 27 cm x 25 cm. Drawing number 12, commissioned by Frederick McCoy as part of his zoological research.
Image Licence
Attribution 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Image Credit
Image source Museums Victoria
Location
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Country
Australia
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
Flora & Fauna
