Scientific illustrations are the sweetest, don't you think? I like the way specimens get arranged on the page, their details lovingly shaded and textured, and always - unintentionally - erring on the side of macabre. How is this for an artform full of genuine wonder and appreciation of life, driven by the desire to know?
I hope you enjoyed the last one as much as I did! So bad it's good.
Images:
- The Zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, under the command
of Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B., F.R.A.S., F.G.S., during the years
1843-1846 /. London :Reeve and Benham,1850 [i.e. 1848-1850].
biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39771066 - Edwardian insects http://scientificillustration.tumblr.com/post/40882947691
- Coral specimens via http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/antique-images-coral-specimens-red-and.html
- Ernst Haeckel
- “Little did Ai know, his portrait would inspire thousands of awkward high school portraits, more than 250 years later.” http://scientificillustration.tumblr.com/post/40507442656/biomedicalephemera-little-did-ai-know-his
I laughed when I saw the last one! I love the macabre nature of sciency stuff too; I love that you're allowed to be all over the inner workings of things, dead and alive. I wish it wasn't considered disrespectful to be that way about specific humans...
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