Illustrating insects: Past&Present

Johann Rudolf Schellenberg (1740–1806) painted a seemingly random detail of a meadow in harmonious colors. The tangle of native plants is teeming with amphibians, reptiles, and insects living in harmony with and alongside each other in this small section of the ecosystem. Near the bottom of the meadow, the arrangement is dense; towards the top, the vegetation opens up to reveal a slightly cloudy sky. The scene appears natural and lively, drawn directly from nature. In fact, every single plant and animal could be named after its species if analyzed closely. Are we looking at a work of art here? Or rather a scientific illustration?

Johann Rudolf Schellenberg (1740–1806) painted a seemingly random detail of a meadow in harmonious colors. The tangle of native plants is teeming with amphibians, reptiles, and insects living in harmony with and alongside each other in this small section of the ecosystem. Near the bottom of the meadow, the arrangement is dense; towards the top, the vegetation opens up to reveal a slightly cloudy sky. The scene appears natural and lively, drawn directly from nature. In fact, every single plant and animal could be named after its species if analyzed closely. Are we looking at a work of art here? Or rather a scientific illustration?

A scientist and artist 

Schellenberg was a painter, etcher, book illustrator and passionate entomologist from Winterthur. In addition to creating paintings of Swiss landscapes, portraits, pictures of traditional costumes and various book illustrations, he spent his life illustrating entomological and botanical books. Like other illustrators at the end of the 18th century, he stood at the interface between art and science: although the magnificent flower and meadow pieces were conceived and constructed by the artist, precise nature studies and a scientifically accurate representation of the depicted plants and animals form the foundation of the compositions.

Keeping pace with the times

Natural history as a research discipline, as well as insect illustrations, reached their peak in the 18th century. With the introduction of binomial nomenclature*, widely accepted after 1758, questions on the classification of living beings took center stage in research. Many artists, such as Schellenberg, began conducting independent research, specializing, and producing their own works on insects. Over the years, Schellenberg compiled a collection of systematically ordered depictions of insects, which he continually supplemented as new insights were gained. He oriented himself around these individual motifs and repeatedly used them in his illustrations. The City Library of Winterthur (Stadtbibliothek Winterthur) alone now possesses around 4 000 such studies. All of them are organized and named according to classes and genera, accompanied by a legend, and supplemented with a handwritten note on the classification characteristics according to Linnaeus or Fabricius.

These examples demonstrate that Schellenberg was not merely carrying out commissions but had a genuine interest in the study of insects. This is also indicated by his self-portrait, depicting him with an insect net. Schellenberg often executed the motifs with the highest scientific accuracy. The insects are usually depicted in their actual size, and they are drawn so precisely that even the smallest hairs on their legs can be seen with a magnifying glass. In some cases, Schellenberg even added real wings to the painted insect bodies.

Competition from photography

Even though nowadays we can quickly and easily create high-resolution photographs of insects, drawings and paintings still have their place in science. For example, Armin Coray (*1955) from the Natural History Museum Basel has gained a reputation far beyond national borders as an excellent illustrator of insects.

Photographs depict more or less the exterior of an individual insect, with all the flaws and peculiarities of that particular individual. They show everything, including broken antennae, atypical color patterns, and unusual body sizes. An artist like Coray, on the other hand, creates an interpretation of an insect in his work; he emphasizes crucial features, omits the unimportant, thus providing viewers with guidance to understand the insect. It's no wonder that many illustrators, both historically and today, engage in entomological research, possessing in-depth knowledge of the morphology and behavior of insects. Drawing an insect, forces one to look closely in return. To this day, sketching animals and plants from nature remains an indispensable part of biology studies.

*Glossary

Binomial nomenclature: In science, each species is designated with a unique name consisting of two parts. The first part of the name denotes the genus to which the species belongs. The second part, when combined with the first part, forms the complete species name. For example, the butterfly known in English as 'red admiral' has the scientific name Vanessa atalanta. This system was developed in the 18th century by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and further advanced by other researchers such as Fabricius.