Bartholomew

Arthur Bartholomew
(1833–1909)

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Arthur Bartholomew was an English-born Australian natural history illustrator and lithographer. Working primarily out of a laboratory at Melbourne University, he documented the life stages of various Australian insect species. He combined fine pencil work, overlapping watercolour washes, and successive layers of gum Arabic and varnish. This unique technique replicated the distinct, three-dimensional textures of insect bodies and leathery chrysalises

For nearly forty years, Bartholomew kept live insect larvae in the laboratory, raising them alongside their host plants. He painted each stage of their development, from larva to pupa to adult imago, noting every date of metamorphosis.

His artwork formed the scientific core of the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, a monumental publication directed by Sir Frederick McCoy.

His unpublished manuscripts are now still held at the Museums Victoria

Copies of illustrations drawn by Bartholomew in this website -