Ferdinand Bauer
Encyclopedia
Ferdinand Lucas Bauer was an Austria
n botanical illustrator
who travelled on Matthew Flinders
' expedition to Australia
.
, he was placed in the custody of Norbert Boccius (1729-1806), a physician and botanist who was Prior of the monastery at Feldsberg. Under the guidance of Boccius, Bauer became an astute observer of nature and was just 15 when he began to contribute miniature drawings to Boccius’ collection. In 1780, Franz and Ferdinand were sent to Vienna to work under the direction of Nikolaus von Jacquin, an eminent botanist and Director of the Royal Botanical Garden at Schonbrunn Palace. There, Bauer was introduced to the Linnean taxonomic system, the field of microscopy
, and took lessons in landscape painting.
In mid 1786, on the recommendation of Jacquin, Bauer accompanied the Oxford Professor John Sibthorp
as an artist on a field trip to Greece and Asia Minor. They returned to England in December 1787 with over 1,500 sketches of plants, animals, birds and landscapes, some of which appeared in Flora Graeca
. The Latin introduction to this work states “Sibthorp took with him a painter of excellent reputation, Ferdinand Bauer, whose merits our illustrations demonstrate.” Joseph Hooker called Flora Graeca, with its 966 superbly hand-coloured illustrations, “the greatest botanical work that has ever appeared” (On the Flora of Australia, London, 1859).
Bauer later travelled to Australia
with Matthew Flinders
as botanical draughtsman. He was one of six scientists selected by Sir Joseph Banks
to accompany Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia. He worked under the direction of botanist Robert Brown
, and in addition to botany, Bauer was to draw zoological subjects. His exacting standard of work earned him the admiration of both Matthew Flinders and Robert Brown. In a letter to Banks from Port Jackson, dated 20 May 1802, Flinders offered this praise: “[It] was fortunate for science that two such men as Mr Brown and Mr Bauer have been selected, their application is beyond what I have been accustomed to see.” Writing to Banks ten days later, Brown reported that Bauer had made 350 plant sketches and 100 of animals, and had “indeed been indefatigable and . . . bestowed infinite pains on the dissections of the parts of fructification of the plants.”
Bauer, intent on capturing accurately the tone and shading of his specimens, but unable to carry with him the range of colours needed, covered his preliminary sketches with colour numbers. Banks was intrigued by Bauer’s precision, and in January 1806 wrote that they “were prepared in such a manner by reference to a table of colours as to enable him to finish them at his leisure with perfect accuracy”.
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In June 1803, while Flinders returned to England in order to obtain a replacement for the Investigator, Bauer remained in Australia. He went to Norfolk Island
for eight months and also undertook excursions to Newcastle, the Blue Mountains and the south coast of New South Wales
. Bauer returned to England on the Investigator, accompanied by 11 cases of drawings containing 1,542 Australian plants, 180 Norfolk Island plants, and over 300 animals.
After Bauer’s return to England on 13 October 1805, the Admiralty continued to employ Bauer to allow him to publish an account of his travels. Bauer worked on the Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
for five years, doing all the engraving himself. He also contributed ten plates to Flinders’ Voyage to Terra Australis
.
From 1806 to 1813, 50 sets of Bauer’s Illustrationes were published in three parts. Unfortunately, the publishing venture was a failure, and in August 1814 Bauer returned to Vienna, but continued to do much work for English publications including Lambert's Pinus and Lindley's Digitalis. He acquired a small house in Hietzing near the Schonbrunn Botanical Garden and spent his time painting and making excursions into the Austrian Alps until shortly before his death from dropsy on 17 March 1826.
The bulk of Bauer's finished paintings was acquired by the British Admiralty. In 1843 they were transferred to the British Museum together with additional paintings that Robert Brown had bought from Franz Bauer
. Most of the sketches, as well as the herbarium and a collection of skins, were acquired by the Austrian Imperial Museum and are now housed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
Whereas Bauer’s brother, Franz, is remembered both by a portrait and a memorial in Kew, Ferdinand Bauer himself has no portrait or stone to commemorate him other than a mention in Franz’s epitaph in St Anne’s Chapel in Kew: “In the delineation of plants he [Franz] united the accuracy of a profound naturalist with the skill of the accomplished artist, to a degree which has been only equalled by his brother Ferdinand.”
Bauer’s biographer, John Lhotsky
, whose purpose in writing Bauer’s biography was to revive interest in the man and his work, suggested in 1843 that Bauer’s name would “long live in the recollections of posterity” because of his drawings, the genus Bauera
that was named after him, and Cape Bauer in South Australia, named by Flinders. But soon after his death, although acclaimed by his contemporaries as the greatest of botanical artists, Bauer’s name was almost forgotten. He was single-minded and obsessional about his work and had no time or talent for self-promotion, which may go some way to explaining his long years in the historical wilderness.
Lhotsky did revive Bauer's name, but his brief biography remained the only source of information about the naturalist-painter for the next 100 years. Bauer’s gained some prominence in the 1970s with the work of Drs Wilfrid Blunt and William Steam in their publication The Australian Flower Paintings of Ferdinand Bauer (Basilisk Press, 1976). The 1988 Bicentenary brought original Bauer paintings to Australia for the first time, where they were shown in three exhibitions, including “First Impressions” shown at the Australian Museum. In April 1989 the first monograph about Ferdinand Bauer’s Australian voyage appeared, Ferdinand Bauer: the Australian Natural History Drawings. Drawing on both the English and Austrian collections, it also reproduced all of Bauer’s known letters in translation. In 1985, 100 uncatalogued animal sketches by Bauer were found in Vienna, and some of them were included in the monograph.
Bauer’s sketched the flora and fauna of the Australian coast and Norfolk Island, and left behind a wonderful visual record. In an essay on flower painting written in 1817, Johann Goethe devoted two pages to an analysis of one of Bauer’s drawings: “ . . . we are enchanted at the sight of these leaves: nature is revealed, art concealed, great in its precision, gentle in its execution, decisive and satisfying in its appearance”. His work has lasting important because of his craftsmanship, aesthetic sense and scientific accuracy.
This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation F.L.Bauer when citing
a botanical name
.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n botanical illustrator
Botanical illustrator
A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge...
who travelled on Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
' expedition to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Biography
Bauer was born in Feldsberg in 1760, the youngest son of Lucas Bauer (?-1761) – court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein – but was left fatherless in his first year of life. The eldest son was the successor to their father's position. Together with two of his brothers, Joseph Anton and Franz AndreasFranz Bauer
Franz Andreas Bauer was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist.Born in Feldsberg, Moravia , he was the son of Lucas Bauer , court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Anton and Ferdinand Bauer...
, he was placed in the custody of Norbert Boccius (1729-1806), a physician and botanist who was Prior of the monastery at Feldsberg. Under the guidance of Boccius, Bauer became an astute observer of nature and was just 15 when he began to contribute miniature drawings to Boccius’ collection. In 1780, Franz and Ferdinand were sent to Vienna to work under the direction of Nikolaus von Jacquin, an eminent botanist and Director of the Royal Botanical Garden at Schonbrunn Palace. There, Bauer was introduced to the Linnean taxonomic system, the field of microscopy
Microscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen with the unaided eye...
, and took lessons in landscape painting.
In mid 1786, on the recommendation of Jacquin, Bauer accompanied the Oxford Professor John Sibthorp
John Sibthorp
John Sibthorp was an English botanist.He was born in Oxford, the youngest son of Dr Humphry Sibthorp , who from 1747 to 1784 was Sherardian professor of botany at the University of Oxford....
as an artist on a field trip to Greece and Asia Minor. They returned to England in December 1787 with over 1,500 sketches of plants, animals, birds and landscapes, some of which appeared in Flora Graeca
Flora Graeca
Flora Graeca was a publication of the plants of Greece in the late 18th century, resulting from a survey by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer...
. The Latin introduction to this work states “Sibthorp took with him a painter of excellent reputation, Ferdinand Bauer, whose merits our illustrations demonstrate.” Joseph Hooker called Flora Graeca, with its 966 superbly hand-coloured illustrations, “the greatest botanical work that has ever appeared” (On the Flora of Australia, London, 1859).
Bauer later travelled to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
as botanical draughtsman. He was one of six scientists selected by Sir Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
to accompany Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia. He worked under the direction of botanist Robert Brown
Robert Brown (botanist)
Robert Brown was a Scottish botanist and palaeobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
, and in addition to botany, Bauer was to draw zoological subjects. His exacting standard of work earned him the admiration of both Matthew Flinders and Robert Brown. In a letter to Banks from Port Jackson, dated 20 May 1802, Flinders offered this praise: “[It] was fortunate for science that two such men as Mr Brown and Mr Bauer have been selected, their application is beyond what I have been accustomed to see.” Writing to Banks ten days later, Brown reported that Bauer had made 350 plant sketches and 100 of animals, and had “indeed been indefatigable and . . . bestowed infinite pains on the dissections of the parts of fructification of the plants.”
Bauer, intent on capturing accurately the tone and shading of his specimens, but unable to carry with him the range of colours needed, covered his preliminary sketches with colour numbers. Banks was intrigued by Bauer’s precision, and in January 1806 wrote that they “were prepared in such a manner by reference to a table of colours as to enable him to finish them at his leisure with perfect accuracy”.
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
for eight months and also undertook excursions to Newcastle, the Blue Mountains and the south coast of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
. Bauer returned to England on the Investigator, accompanied by 11 cases of drawings containing 1,542 Australian plants, 180 Norfolk Island plants, and over 300 animals.
After Bauer’s return to England on 13 October 1805, the Admiralty continued to employ Bauer to allow him to publish an account of his travels. Bauer worked on the Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
Illustrationes florae Novae Hollandiae is an 1813 publication by the botanical illustrator Ferdinand Bauer.Bauer was scientific illustrator on board the Investigator during Matthew Flinders' exploration of Australia, and as such he worked closely with the expedition's naturalist, Robert Brown...
for five years, doing all the engraving himself. He also contributed ten plates to Flinders’ Voyage to Terra Australis
A Voyage to Terra Australis
A Voyage to Terra Australis: Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator was a sea voyage journal written by English mariner and explorer Matthew Flinders...
.
From 1806 to 1813, 50 sets of Bauer’s Illustrationes were published in three parts. Unfortunately, the publishing venture was a failure, and in August 1814 Bauer returned to Vienna, but continued to do much work for English publications including Lambert's Pinus and Lindley's Digitalis. He acquired a small house in Hietzing near the Schonbrunn Botanical Garden and spent his time painting and making excursions into the Austrian Alps until shortly before his death from dropsy on 17 March 1826.
The bulk of Bauer's finished paintings was acquired by the British Admiralty. In 1843 they were transferred to the British Museum together with additional paintings that Robert Brown had bought from Franz Bauer
Franz Bauer
Franz Andreas Bauer was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist.Born in Feldsberg, Moravia , he was the son of Lucas Bauer , court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Anton and Ferdinand Bauer...
. Most of the sketches, as well as the herbarium and a collection of skins, were acquired by the Austrian Imperial Museum and are now housed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
Whereas Bauer’s brother, Franz, is remembered both by a portrait and a memorial in Kew, Ferdinand Bauer himself has no portrait or stone to commemorate him other than a mention in Franz’s epitaph in St Anne’s Chapel in Kew: “In the delineation of plants he [Franz] united the accuracy of a profound naturalist with the skill of the accomplished artist, to a degree which has been only equalled by his brother Ferdinand.”
Bauer’s biographer, John Lhotsky
John Lhotsky
John Lhotsky was a Galicia-born Austrian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author. He wrote and published on the topics of zoology, botany, geology, geography and politics. Lhotsky was active in the early colonies of New South Wales and Tasmania from 1832 until 1838...
, whose purpose in writing Bauer’s biography was to revive interest in the man and his work, suggested in 1843 that Bauer’s name would “long live in the recollections of posterity” because of his drawings, the genus Bauera
Bauera
Bauera is a small genus of shrubs which are endemic to eastern Australia. The species occur in the states of South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The genus was named in honour of brothers Ferdinand Bauer and Franz Bauer, Austrian botanical illustrators.- Selected...
that was named after him, and Cape Bauer in South Australia, named by Flinders. But soon after his death, although acclaimed by his contemporaries as the greatest of botanical artists, Bauer’s name was almost forgotten. He was single-minded and obsessional about his work and had no time or talent for self-promotion, which may go some way to explaining his long years in the historical wilderness.
Lhotsky did revive Bauer's name, but his brief biography remained the only source of information about the naturalist-painter for the next 100 years. Bauer’s gained some prominence in the 1970s with the work of Drs Wilfrid Blunt and William Steam in their publication The Australian Flower Paintings of Ferdinand Bauer (Basilisk Press, 1976). The 1988 Bicentenary brought original Bauer paintings to Australia for the first time, where they were shown in three exhibitions, including “First Impressions” shown at the Australian Museum. In April 1989 the first monograph about Ferdinand Bauer’s Australian voyage appeared, Ferdinand Bauer: the Australian Natural History Drawings. Drawing on both the English and Austrian collections, it also reproduced all of Bauer’s known letters in translation. In 1985, 100 uncatalogued animal sketches by Bauer were found in Vienna, and some of them were included in the monograph.
Bauer’s sketched the flora and fauna of the Australian coast and Norfolk Island, and left behind a wonderful visual record. In an essay on flower painting written in 1817, Johann Goethe devoted two pages to an analysis of one of Bauer’s drawings: “ . . . we are enchanted at the sight of these leaves: nature is revealed, art concealed, great in its precision, gentle in its execution, decisive and satisfying in its appearance”. His work has lasting important because of his craftsmanship, aesthetic sense and scientific accuracy.
This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation F.L.Bauer when citing
Author citation (botany)
In botanical nomenclature, author citation refers to citing the person who validly published a botanical name, i.e. who first published the name while fulfilling the formal requirements as specified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
.
External links
- Bauer, Ferdinand (1760-1826) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Ferdinand Bauer
- View more biographical information about and digitized titles by Ferdinand Bauer in Botanicus.org
- Macquarie University - Dr. Marlene Norst demonstrating Ferdinand Bauer's drawings
See also
- List of Australian botanical illustrators
- List of Austrian artists and architects
- European and American voyages of scientific explorationEuropean and American voyages of scientific explorationThe era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment...
Further reading
- Blunt, W. & Steam, W., The Australian flower paintings of Ferdinand Saner, Basilisk Press: London, 1976.
- Lhotsky, J., Biographical sketch of Ferdinand Bauer, natural history painter to the expedition of Captain Flinders, R.N., to Terra Australis, J. Bot. 2: 106, 1843
- Mabberley, David, Ferdinand Bauer, the Nature of Discovery, Merrell Holberton and the Natural History Museum, London, 1999, 128 pp.
- Mabberley, David J. and Moore, David T., Catalogue of the Holdings in the Natural History Museum (London) of the Australian Botanical Drawings of Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) and Cognate Materials Relating to the Investigator Voyage of 1801-1805, Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, 29(2), 81-226, London, 1999.
- Norst, MarleneMarlene NorstMarlene Johanna Norst was an Australian linguist, pedagogue and philanthropist of Austrian heritage. Main areas of work: German language and literature studies, linguistics, language pedagogy, English as a second language, socio-linguistics, children’s literature.She was the daughter of the lawyer...
, Ferdinand Bauer: the Australian Natural History Drawings, British Museum of Natural History/Lothian, London/Melbourne, 1989, 120 pp. - Norst, MJ.Marlene NorstMarlene Johanna Norst was an Australian linguist, pedagogue and philanthropist of Austrian heritage. Main areas of work: German language and literature studies, linguistics, language pedagogy, English as a second language, socio-linguistics, children’s literature.She was the daughter of the lawyer...
, Austrians and Australia, Athena Press, Sydney, 1988 - Watts, Peter, Pomfrett, Jo Anne and Mabberley, David, An Exquisite Eye: the Australian Flora and Fauna Drawings 1812-1820 of Ferdinand Bauer, Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, Sydney, 1997, 167 pp.