About The Bauer Brothers - Famous Botanical Artists
Ranked #4,986 in Arts & Design, #79,331 overall
An introduction to Franz Bauer (1758 - 1840) and Ferdinand Bauer (1760 - 1826)
The Bauer brothers - Franz and Ferdinand - are regarded as two of the best botanical artists that have ever lived by many botanical art experts
Sir Joseph Banks spotted Franz Bauer's skills and arranged for him to become employed as "Botanick Painter to his Majesty" and to draw all the new flowering plants at Kew. He was probably the first botanical artist to record stages in a life cycle of certain plants with the aid of a microscope.
Ferdinand Bauer is best known for his role as botanical artist on an expedition to explore and record the coastline of Australia.
However, neither have been widely known due to most of their botanical illustrations and paintings forming part of very rare and expensive volumes or unavailable to view in the archives of museums or private collections.
This site introduces the two artists and will be of interest to all botanical artists and all those who enjoy botanical art and natural history. It provides links to their biographies, major projects and achievements in botanical illustration and places and books where you can see their drawings.
Illustration: Banksia coccinea, Plate 3 from Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae (Source Wikiedmedia)
You can find out about...
just click a link to go straight to a topic
- Early Life of the Bauer Brothers in Austria
- The Codex Liechenstein
- FRANZ (FRANCIS) BAUER (1758-1840)
- FERDINAND BAUER(1760-1826)
- Flora Graeca - a survey by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer
- BOOKS: The Flora Graeca
- Oxford University Library - Flora Graeca
- Botanical Artists - Gardens & Herbals
- Botanical Artists - Explorers
- Resources for Botanical Artists
- Comments and Feedback
The beginnings of a life in botanical art
from the wikipedia articles
Born in Feldsberg (now Valtice, Czech Republic), Franz and Ferdinand Bauer were the sons of Lucas Bauer, (? 1761), court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Bauer.
After Lucas Bauer's death, his wife, Therese continued to give her three sons lessons in art and illustration. Josef succeeded his father as court painter and eventually became keeper of the gallery in Vienna.
Francis and Ferdinand acquired their first experience of botanical illustration with the arrival of Father Norbert Boccius, Abbot of Feldsberg, in 1763, and produced over 2000 watercolour drawings of plant specimens under his guidance. Their botanical drawings made in Feldsburg were subsequently published as part of the Codex Liechstenstein.
Their education continued in Vienna under the botanist and artist Baron Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin who was the Professor of Botany and Chemistry at the University of Vienna and Director of the Botanical Gardens. He produced many fine illustrated books. The brothers were introduced to the field of microscopy and learned how it could be used to record fine detail. Under the guidance of Baron von Jacquin, the two perfected their skills as botanical illustrators and became familiar with diverse plants and fine-tuned their eyes to exacting observation. This developed their extraordinary attention to detail which became their hallmark.
Early Life of the Bauer Brothers in Austria
Botanical gardens
- Faculty Centre of Biodiversity (former Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden), University Vienna
- Homepage of the Faculty Center Biodiversity, former Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden of the University of Vienna, A-1030 Vienna, Austria
In 1754 Empress Maria Theresia founded the "Hortus Botanicus Vindobonensis". The renowned botanist NIKOLAUS VON JACQUIN became one of the first directors of this botanical garden. He not only taught botany, but also chemistry and other related disciplines. His son, JOSEPH VON JACQUIN, followed him on the professoral chair and also as director of the Botanical Garden. - Botanical Garden, University Vienna
- Botanischer Garten der Universit%uFFFDt Wien
A-1030 Wien, Rennweg 14
www.botanik.univie.ac.at/hbv/
In 1754 Archduchess (Empress) Maria Theresia of Austria founded a Pharmaceutical Garden in baroque style for the Medical Faculty of Vienna University. Already at its present location in Vienna's third district, this formed the basis for today's Botanical Garden attached to the Faculty Center (Institute of) Botany at the Faculty of Life Sciences.
After several changes, the Botanical Garden now presents a synthesis between a 19th century landscape garden and a display of plants in systematic and plant-geographical arrangement. - A masterpiece of brotherly love - Telegraph
- A magnificent 18th-century botanica contains illustrations that could have been painted yesterday. Peter Parker reports
The Codex Liechenstein
BOOKS: featuring the Bauer Brothers' botanical art
books on Amazon
It took 30 years for a team of specialist artists to draw and paint the native plants of Lower Austria and Moravia. These included plants which were cultivated in both the field and the garden. The Codex also highlights the short-lived flowering splendour of the greenhouses of Vienna and surrounding region.
The Bauer Brothers - who went on to become two of the most famous botanical artists - were involved at a very early stage in their career but produced over half of the Botanical paintings in the Codex.
FRANZ (FRANCIS) BAUER (1758-1840)
Portrait of Franz (Francis) Bauer c.1800
About Franz (Francis) Andreas Bauer (1758-1840)
Botanik Painter to his Majesty
Born in Feldsburg, Austria, Franz was the older brother of Ferdinand Bauer who was also a botanical artist . Franz was less well known than his much-travelled and renowned brother.
Franz's initial involvement with botanical art was through the illustration of plants for the Professor of botany and director of the botanic garden of the University of Vienna. Franz illustrated works by the Baron Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and his son Baron Joseph Franz von Jacquin at the Schönbrunn Imperial Gardens.
In 1788 he travelled to England and settled at Kew where he was to remain for the rest of his life. In England he was known by the anglicised version of his name Francis.
Sir Joseph Banks employed Franz as a botanical artist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. He was known by the title 'Botanick Painter to His Majesty' and was paid an income of £300. The drawings he made while at Kew have much scientific value and at the same time are also a historic record of the development of Kew Gardens at a time when it was expanding rapidly.
For 40 years, Bauer illustrated the newly discovered plants from around the world that were introduced to England via Kew, where they were grown and studied for the first time in a scientific manner.
* He provided illustrations for a number of botanical books, including his 1818 work Strelitzia depicta: or coloured figures of the known species of the genus Strelitzia from the drawings in the Banksian Library'.
* He was probably the first artist to draw detailed plant dissections for recording purposes at Kew. He even drew greatly magnified pollen specimens with remarkable detail and accuracy, despite the optical limitations of the microscopes of his time. By the early nineteenth century, plant anatomy was seen as an important tool for identification of different species. It is believed that Bauer may have used the newly developed camera lucida, to help him make such accurate drawings.
Bauer's botanical artwork sets a standard in terms of quality and style of illustration. A number of his drawings are also held in the Library at Kew. Some of his earlier drawings are held in the library at Gottingen University in Germany.
Bauer was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society in 1804 and additionally became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1821.
He died at Kew in December 1840 and was buried locally in Kew Parish Church - St Anne's on Kew Green.
(Based on the biography detailed by the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Natural History Museum)
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: History and Heritage: People: Artists: Franz (Francis) Andreas Bauer
- Francis, as Franz became known in England, received an annual income of £300 from Banks, and the title 'Botanick Painter to His Majesty'. By 1790 Bauer was settled in Kew indulging in detailed paintings and drawings often at microscopic level, and taking great care to hand colour lithographic reproductions of his work. During his time at Kew Franz taught Queen Charlotte, Princess Elizabeth and William Hooker the art of illustration, and frequently entertained friends and botanists at his home. His legacy is to be found in such sumptuous publications as Delineations of Exotick Plants (1796-1803), his collaboration with John Lindley Illustrations of Orchidaceous Plants (1830-38), and his delicate lithographs in Strelitzia Depicta (1818).
- Natural History Museum - Franz (Francis) Andreas Bauer (1758-1840)
- Biography of Franz (Francis) Bauer
- Orchids.co.in. - Franz Bauer
- This biography focuses in particular on Bauer's place in the annals of orchidology.
- Franz Bauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- References
* Stewart, Joyce and William T. Stearn. The orchid paintings of Franz Bauer. Timber Press,. Portland, Or. 1993
* Reinikka, Merle A. A History of the Orchid. Timber Press,. Portland, Or. 1995 - A&A | Monument to Francis Bauer
- Monument to Francis Baeur
Kew Parish Church, Surrey, England
1840
Sculptor: Westmacott, Richard II
Bauer is buried next to Zoffany and Gainsborough
Franz Bauer's work and publications
These publications are listed by Wikipedia:
* Delineations of Exotick Plants cultivated in the Royal Garden at Kew. Drawn and coloured and the Botanical characters displayed according to the Linnean System by Francis Bauer. Published by William Aiton, d.c. (Preface by Sir Joseph Banks.) 1796-83
* The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants, illustrated by drawings on stone from the sketches of Francis Bauerby John Lindley. London, Ridgways and Treuttel, Wurtz, 1830-1838.
* Genera filicum; or Illustrations of the ferns, and other allied genera; from the original coloured drawings of the late Francis Bauer; with additions and descriptive letterpress, by Sir William Jackson Hooker. London, H. G. Bohn, 1842.
- botanicus - Hortus Kewensis, or, A catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew
- Hortus Kewensis by William Aiton was a 1789 catalogue of all the plant species then in cultivation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, which constituted the vast majority of plant species in cultivation in all of England.
It included information on the country of origin, who introduced the plant into English cultivation, and when. It is therefore now one of the most important sources of information on history of horticulture in England.
It also includes botanical illustrations by Francis Bauer - University of London - Rsearch Library Services - Archives
- search "Franz Bauer" - produces
Title Franz Bauer drawings
Held at Senate House Library, University of London
Reference MS1015
Date c1788-c1829 - An annotated catalogue of the printed illustrations by Franz Bauer (1758-1840) - Edinburgh University Press
- ABSTRACT: A short biography of Franz Bauer (1758-1840) is given, who was a prolific illustrator in the fields of botany, zoology, human anatomy and pathology. His commissions came mainly from Norbert Boccius, Nikolaus Joseph Jacquin, Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Everard Home. Comparatively late in life Franz Bauer became a scientist in his own right, but published little. An annotated list of the printed illustrations by Franz Bauer is included as well as a synopsis correlating several of them with Home's Lectures on comparative anatomy.
Illustrations of ferns from the original coloured drawings of Francis Bauer
Images of Franz (Francis) Bauer
- Natural History Museum - Strelitzia reginae
- Strelitzia reginae, c.1820. Watercolour on paper, 527 x 357 mm.
At the end of the eighteenth century Franz Bauer had an unique opportunity to draw exotic flowers that had just been brought to England from around the world. Carefully nurtured at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in England these plants created great scientific interest and much curiosity from botanists. Fabulous and colourful plants such as the Golden Bird of Paradise, Strelitizia reginae stimulated particular excitement, and was drawn in exquisite detail by Franz Bauer. - Plate 11 from British Orchids - Plants, Flowering Plants at The Natural History Museum, London
- Plate 11 from British Orchids. Watercolour from British Orchids (1792-1817), by Franz Andreas Bauer (1758-1840). Held in the Botany Library at the Natural History Museum, London.. Picture, Image, Photo, Photograph, The Natural History Museum, London
BOOKS: About Franz (Francis) Bauer and his work
FERDINAND BAUER(1760-1826)
Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) - biography
Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (20 January 1760 - 17 March 1826) was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia.
As a young man, Ferdinand travelled to England, from where he accompanied John Sibthorpe, a botanist and professor from Oxford University, to Greece in 1784. This resulted in the publication of the now famous Flora Graeca (1806), which contains the magnificent artworks Bauer created to represent the Greek flora.
Bauer subsequently travelled to Australia on the ship HMS Investigator as botanical draughtsman to Sir Joseph Banks' botanist, Robert Brown (1773-1858) - after being recommended by Joseph Banks.
HMS Investigator was commanded by Captain Matthew Flinders, and it was on this famous voyage of exploration and scientific discovery that Australia was circumnavigated and charted in detail for the first time.
Throughout the voyage, Bauer sketched the plants and animals that were seen and collected. He made 700 drawings of plants and animals by July 1802, and about 12 months later he speaks of having completed nearly 600 more. His coloured artworks revealed the wonders of the Australian flora and fauna to European eyes for the first time. Some of the paintings were published as engravings in the 1813 work, Illustrationes Flora Novae Hollandiae. This was the first detailed account of the natural history of the Australian continent. Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae which was not a financial success, partly because the artist was so conscientious that he endeavoured to do all the work himself including the colouring of the plates.
When Flinders set sail for Britain, Bauer remained in Sydney and took part in expeditions in New South Wales and to Norfolk Island.
He returned to Austria in August 1814 but continued to do much work for English publications including Lambert's Pinus and Lindley's Digitalis, etc.
He left the Australian watercolours in England as the property of the Admiralty. Today, these illustrations are of immense botanical and historical interest, particularly in Europe and Australia.
Ferdinand Bauer died on 17 March 1826.
The name of Bauer has been perpetuated in several Australian plants, in specific epithets and the genus Bauera, and Cape Bauer on the Australian coast was named after Ferdinand by Flinders.
Ferdinand Bauer is denoted by the author abbreviation F.L.Bauer when citing a botanical name.
Based on the biographies detailed by the Natural History Museum, the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Wikipedia
- Biodiversity Heritage Library - Bauer, Ferdinand, (1760 - 1826)
- Bemerkungen uber die flora der Sudseeinseln /von Stephan Endlicher.
Publication info: [Wien (Vienna) : Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte, 1836 or 1841?]
Historia naturalis palmarum :opus tripartium / Carol. Frid. Phil. de Martius.
Publication info: Lipsiae: T.O. Weigel, [1823-50]
Provdies a biography of Ferdinand Bauer - Natural History Museum - Ferdinand Bauer
- The Ferdinand Bauer Drawings Collection
Bauer's existing drawings are located in two major collections. Most of his sketches are held by the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. Many of their finished watercolour counterparts are housed in the Library of the Natural History Museum in London. It is hoped that using digital technology it may be possible to re-unite the divided art work as one virtual collection.
The collection at the Natural History Museum has been photographed, conserved and remounted for preservation, display and handling purposes during the 1980s. It is accompanied by some pencil sketches that were made on Norfolk Island during 1804-1805.
A book has also recently been published about Ferdinand Bauer and the drawings held at the Natural History Museum. - Ferdinand Bauer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Wikipedia - Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (20 January 1760 - 17 March 1826) was an Austrian botanical illustrator
- Dictionary of Australian Biography Ba
- Project Gutenberg Australia
DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN BIOGRAPHY - Rocky Road: Ferdinand Bauer
- When the Royal Navy officer Matthew Flinders sailed the Investigator to Australia at the turn of the 19th century, he took with him not only 80 sailors, but also a civilian staff of naturalists and artists. Among them was the remarkably talented illustrator, Ferdinand Bauer.
Ferdinand Bauer's botanical art
- botanicus - Ferdinand Bauer
- Ferdinand Bauer and his brother, Franz, were matchless botanical illustrators. "Their work was the equal of Redouté, and even surpassed him in their attention to detail. They came nearer to perfection in the field of [botanical illustration] than any artist before or since." (7:27).
Nevertheless, their accomplishments remain relatively unknown. Why so? Their published works are in rare and expensive volumes, or lie in seldom-consulted technical books. Also, their stunning drawings are tucked away in museums-seldom shown to the public at large (7). Ferdinand's drawings of Australia are in the British Museum, as are his original sketches for Lambert's Genus pinus. The original watercolor drawings for Sibthrop and Smith's Flora Graeca are housed at Oxford University. - In Honour of Ferdinand Bauer by Florence Dwight (2001)
- Australian Plants online. Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants.
Ferdinand Bauer. after whom the genus Bauera was named, was born in 1760 into an age of great geographical and botanical exploration. He was to become pre-eminent among botanical illustrators of every age. - Historical records of Australian Science
- a review of two books about Bauer and his work
- Biodiversity Heritage Library - Ferdinand Bauer
- Bauer, Ferdinand,
(1760 - 1826) - PACSOA - Ferdinand Bauer 1760-1826
- Palm and Cyclas Society - summary re Ferdinand Bauer
BOOKS: About Ferdinand Bauer
books on Amazon
Images of the work of Ferdinand Bauer
- State Library of Victoria - Ferdinand Bauer
- 11 items in the Picture Catalogue
- Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae - Wikimedia Commons
- Images from Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae in Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae is a 19th century book - Ferdinand Bauer's field drawings of endemic Western Australian plants made at King George Sound and Lucky Bay, December 1801 - January 1802.
- A further forty-four field drawings of western Australian endemic plants made by Ferdinand Bauer, natural history artist on Flinders's Investigator voyage (1801-1803), are published in Part II as a subsequent paper to Part I. In this and the previous paper, surviving drawings made at King George Sound and Lucky Bay (December 1801- January 1802) are identified and discussed.
- Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (1760 - 1826)
- Fifty-two drawings of animals observed in Australia between 1801 and 1803 during the voyage of HMS Investigator, under the command of Captain Matthew Flinders
- Natural History Museum - Ferdinand Bauer - Banksia
- Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (1760-1826)
Banksia speciosa R.Brown (Showy or Ricrac banksia), c.1811.
Watercolour on paper, 524 x 356 mm.
Flora Graeca - a survey by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer
sources: Wikipedia, Oxford Univerisity Library
Flora Graeca is a highly prized record of the plants of Greece in the late eighteenth century. What started as a plan intention to produce an up to date herbal or medical volume became a scientific survey undertaken by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer which led to the publication of the work.
The two met in Vienna when Sibthorp sought a copy of the the sixth century botanical work of Pedanius Dioscorides - the De Materia Medica is the earliest comprehensive source of information about the medicines used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity.
The work is now prized at a number of levels.
* It develops and updates Dioscorides' work
* The work is of scientific and horticultural interest in being a comprehensive survey of botanical information at a specific point in time.
* The fine craftsmanship and quality of the botanical illustration and description has also led to it being valued as botanical art.
* A number of the plants illustrated have gone on to become perennials in English flower gardens.
Between March 1786 to December 1787, Sibthorp and Bauer collaborated in an expedition to identify and record the medicinal plants of Greece. The roles were split as follows:
* Sibthorp collected, identified and described the specimens
* Bauer created dried specimens and illustrated the collected plants using colour coded sketches. In the end these amounted to about 1,000 annotated sketches and is now regarded as one of the finest examples of botanical illustration in the field.
At the same time they were collecting information about the natural fauna of the area but the intention to public Fauna Graeca was never realised.
Flora Graeca was not produced in Sibthorp's lifetime. He collected the plates and descriptions together and left a donation on his death so that they could be published. The work of compiling the books for publication was then taken on by three men:
* James Edward Smith was responsible for the publication of two volumes of the Prodromus in 1806 and 1813, and six volumes as Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana between 1806 and 1828. The seventh appeared in 1830, after Smith's death
* Three more volumes were published by John Lindley between 1833 and 1840.
* The engravings were done by Sowerby.
* A set of volumes of Flora Graeca were not cheap. In 1830 they cost £620. Their relative scarcity and quality mean that they are now highly valued by the book trade.
* Only 30 copies of the first set were issued. In 1845 a further 50 complete sets were reprinted. reissued in 1845 by Bohn. The scarcity of the early first editions led to doubt of their existence, the rare book is at the higher end of trade.
* The Oxford University Library Services has now made a digital scan of the complete set.
The publication was issued with tables and indices of the scientific name, the common name in Greek was in this concordance. It was during a period of increasing interest in horticulture and
The illustration is the title or cover page to the John Sibthorp's Flora Graeca.
BOOKS: The Flora Graeca
Oxford University Library - Flora Graeca
- Oxford Digital Library
- Oxford Digital Library: You can view the e-book produced by Oxford University Press - Flora Graeca
Sibthorp and Smith's Flora Graeca, illustrated by Ferdinand Bauer and often described as 'Oxford's finest botanical treasure', is considered the most splendid and expensive Flora ever produced. The collections include not only the printed volumes but also the original hand-coloured drawings from which the printed engravings were made, the original botanical specimens they illustrate, unpublished drawings of the Fauna Graeca and a unique series of topographical Mediterranean Scenes, also never published. Accompanying these are diaries and notebooks from the two expeditions to the Levant in which Sibthorp set out to discover the wild plants described by Dioscorides in c.AD 60- and in doing so laid the foundations for modern botanical exploration. - Information Services in Bio- & Environmental Sciences - Flora Graeca in the 21st century
- Flora Graeca in the 21st century
Digitising the Flora Graeca
The complete series of printed volumes, original drawings and the accompanying unpublished Fauna Graeca and Mediterranean Scenes have now been digitised for the Oxford Digital Library.
The links below give access to preview versions of all the scans; a fully searchable interface with zooming facilities is in preparation. Selected images are currently available within the Oxford Digital Library
Illustrationes florae Novae Hollandiae - original text
wikisource
- Illustrationes florae Novae Hollandiae - Wikisource
- Ferdinand Bauer
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
1806-1813
BOOKS: Referencing the work of the Bauer Brothers
books by Dr Shirley Sherwood
I own both these books and I can vouch for the fact - having seen the originals - that both have excellent reproductions of the excellent work of the Bauer Brothers. In addition the text makes for fascinating reading.
Botanical Artists - Gardens & Herbals
Botanical Artists - Explorers
Resources for Botanical Artists
Making A Mark
Artist and writer Katherine Tyrrell draws and writes about art for artists and art lovers
Topics include: drawing, painting, art blogs, visual artists, art competitions, art exhibitions, art history; art techniques and tips; art business and marketing; the art economy and making a mark with pastels, coloured pencils and pen & ink
Who is makingamark?
More of my top ranked art sites on Squidoo
by makingamark
I'm an artist and writer who enjoys sharing information about art. My art blog
I'm also a...
more »
Explore related pages
- About Pierre Redoute - Botanical Artist About Pierre Redoute - Botanical Artist
- About Basilius Besler - Famous Botanical Artist About Basilius Besler - Famous Botanical Artist
- About Maria Sibylla Merian - Botanical Artist About Maria Sibylla Merian - Botanical Artist
- About Georg Dionysius Ehret - Famous Botanical Artist About Georg Dionysius Ehret - Famous Botanical Artist
- About Sydney Parkinson - Botanical Artist About Sydney Parkinson - Botanical Artist
- About Margaret Mee - Famous Botanical Artist About Margaret Mee - Famous Botanical Artist
Garden for Eternity: The Codex Liechtenstein
early work by the Bauer Brothers
Garden for Eternity: The Codex Liechtenstein
Amazon Price: $376.78 (as of 05/29/2012)
Some of the brothers earliest botanical art paintings can be seen in the "Liber Regni Vegetabilis" (the book of the plant kingdom) - now known as The Codex Liechtenstein
More about Botanical Art and Botanical Artists
Making A Mark
contains many posts about botanical art and artists
.jpg){kind=link}