slideshow

Fish Illustrations

Before the invention of photography, illustration was the only means of portraying scientific specimens. Artists became essential to furthering scientific discovery, and their lasting artwork is a beautiful legacy that can still be enjoyed today. The accessibility of the camera by the twentieth century meant illustrators were less necessary for the documentation of specimens, and though this greatly diminished the number of illustrated works, it did not diminish the value of scientific art. Today, artists are still sought after for their talents.
Prior to the 1500s, fish illustrations were crude or unrealistic, partially due to the printing technology of the time and partially due to an emphasis on the text over accurate illustrations. Woodblock printing made it difficult to print intricate detail, and while copperplate engravings were better quality, they required specialized machinery that was expensive.  Despite their quality and inaccuracies, these early illustrations serve as an important window into the world of ichthyology, the study of fish, right as it was beginning as a topic of study.   

By the turn of the twentieth century scientific illustration was in its prime. Photography was still in its infancy and was not widely accessible. The United States was also in the height of exploring its Western territories and states, which required expert illustrators to document the discoveries and report back to Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian Institution hired many of these illustrators, who produced some of the most highly regarded scientific illustrations for the time.

Here, this slideshow outlines a selection of notable artists who illustrated fish for scientific purposes. Starting from ancient Greek texts, it showcases artwork through to today.

several drawn fish under a sun
illustrations of fish on a book page
two printed fish side by side
four illustrations of the flying fish
many fish illustrations in brilliant colors
brilliantly colored fish illustrations
a purple pufferfish illustration
a colorful tropical fish illustration
a tropical fish illustration
a black deep sea fish with a massive jaw
A red fish illustration
several drawn fish under a sun

Aristotle (384–322 BC)

Credit: Hortus sanitatis by Jacob Meydenbach

Aristotle, considered the father of biology, wrote extensively about the life and anatomy of various fish during the height of the Ancient Greek Empire. His works remain known today through the many translations written by the scholars that followed. The original copies, including Aristotle’s sketches, are lost to history.  ​

Of all the translations printed before 1500, only the Hortus sanitatis of 1491 had a dedicated section for fish with accompanying illustrations.​
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The illustrations in Hortus sanitatis, however, are difficult to identify by species, and serve more as an artistic partner to the text rather than a realistic representation of anatomy. Besides Hortus sanitatis, most illustrations of fish in printed works were in relation to fishing practices rather than fish biology. ​

Here, common sole and burbot are drawn in sunshine as a nod to their scientific names, Solea and Solaris.

illustrations of fish on a book page

al-Jahiz (~800 AD)

Credit: Book of Animals

In medieval Iraq, al-Jahiz was a prolific writer and scholar. Of his over 200 books, the Book of Animals is the most famous, for it is a rare book of zoology written with the general public in mind rather than just scholars. Though al-Jahiz includes mythological tales and jokes within the book, his scientific observations are still highly valued among naturalists. The book covers many topics including biological mimicry, ant socialization, and even observations concerning natural selection.​

As a child, al-jahiz sold fish, so it is no surprise that several passages describing the migrations of local fish species are included in the book. Al-Jahiz notes fish called usbur and barastouj, which were both important fish for fishermen at that time. While it is unclear which fish barastouj refers to, it is likely the usbur fish is Hamilton’s thryssa, a fish in the anchovy family.

​Illustrated manuscripts in Arabic are rare, and there is only one remaining copy of the Book of Animals with accompanying illustrations. The copy, discovered in the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, was likely transcribed in 14th-century Mamluk Egypt. The illustrations, however, are stylized in an old-fashioned manner, suggesting they were copied from an earlier text drawn in Iraq.

two printed fish side by side

Nikolaus Marescalcus​ (1520)

Credit: Historia aquatilium by Nikolaus Marescalcus

The first book dedicated solely to the biology of fish is the Historia aquatilium of 1520 written by Nikolaus Marescalcus, also known by the name Marschalk. The book contained printed illustrations, created using woodblock printing.  Perhaps because this method limited the picture’s level of detail, Marschalk’s pictures were critiqued for being particularly crude.​

Marschalk claims that as a young adult he saw various fish journeying to the Atlantic and North Sea, and this experience served as the inspiration for his artwork. However, inaccuracies in his illustrations suggest otherwise. Historians believe he instead borrowed much of his inspiration from previous works, including the Hortus sanitatis translation of Aristotle’s work.​

​Even academics of the time critiqued Marschalk, noting his inclusion of ridiculous fantasies like mermaids and dragons.

four illustrations of the flying fish

The Birth of Ichthyology​ (1550-1560) ​

Credit: Clockwise starting in the top left corner is the flying gunard (Dactylopterus volitans) in Salviani's book followed by images from the books of Rondelet, Belon, and Gunard in the bottom left.

The 1550s was a particularly important decade for ichthyology. Four separate texts written by authors Pierre Belon, Guillaume Rondelet, Hippolito Salviani, and Conrad Gessner were printed in quick succession, creating competition between which book was best. These books created the foundation of ichthyology.​

Unlike previous publications, the illustrators of these works had all seen their subjects and often they had also dissected the fish. This increased the realism of the illustrations significantly.​

​While the artists for Belon, Rondelet and Gessner used woodblock printing, like previous texts, the artist for Salviani, Bernhardus Aretinus, used a new engraving method that used copperplates. The beauty and detail of the copperplate method is evident when compared to the woodblock method. It also allowed for greater accuracy. While a fifth of the illustrations in Belon and Rondelet’s books cannot be identified to the species, all of the illustrations in Salviani’s are identifiable.​ 

many fish illustrations in brilliant colors

Nie Huang​ (1693)​

Credit: Nie Huang

During the Qing Dynasty in China, Nie Huang traveled to the coast to study and illustrate sea creatures. Motivated by a lack of texts describing the region’s marine life, Huang took it upon himself to produce the first book of Chinese fish, Pictures of the Various Marine Creatures. Likely inspired by medieval European illustrations, he included imaginary creatures and depictions of legends.​

In 1726, Pictures of the Various Marine Creatures entered the Qing imperial collection and was hidden from public view until much later in history. Sadly, its great potential to influence the study of fish was never realized. Nevertheless, it is still a highly regarded collection and is an important example of early scientific illustration.​

brilliantly colored fish illustrations

Samuel Fallours​ (1719)

Credit: Samuel Fallours

Perhaps one of the most controversial books in ichthyology, Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires mixed science with fiction. The illustrations were originally commissioned by General Adriaen van der Stel and drawn and painted by Samuel Fallours of the Dutch East India Trading Company. While living on the Indonesian Island of Ambon, Fallours took fish gifted by local fishermen and painted them. He sold the embellished illustrations to wealthy company officials and European collectors to earn extra money on the side. It is likely the fantastical colors and stories he told were to help attract buyers.​

The illustrations found their way to the Netherlands where Renard, impressed by their beauty, turned the drawings into plates that could be copied for the printing process.  Though initially critiqued for its whimsical colors, elaborated features, and use of human-like faces, the book was later recognized as indispensable. About 93 percent of the fish can be identified to at least the family, and the vast majority are identifiable to the species. 

a purple pufferfish illustration

Joseph Drayton​ (1838-1842) ​

Credit: Joseph Drayton

In 1838, the United States dispatched six U.S. Navy vessels to explore uncharted waters in the Pacific. It was an unprecedented endeavor for the young nation, and the hundreds of collected specimens would eventually form the foundation collection of the Smithsonian Institution. Aboard one research vessel was artist Joseph Drayton. ​

Drayton produced drawings of scenes, people, and specimens from the expedition, including numerous illustrations of fish. He relied upon a camera lucida, an instrument that had a lens and mirror and could project an image for tracing. The fish he illustrated were recently caught and killed, and often he made decisions regarding coloration to depict the fish as he saw them rather than how they appeared as living animals.

a colorful tropical fish illustration

American Contributions at the Turn of the Century​ (1900)

Credit: Charles Hudson

At the turn of the twentieth century the United States was exploring its Western territory, and a major part of that exploration was cataloguing the local natural history. As the nation’s museum, the Smithsonian Institution played a key role in this endeavor. Many expeditions were organized and led by its scientists.​

The illustrations produced during the Albatross expeditions are regarded as some of the highest quality zoological illustrations of the time. In particular, an exceptional talent pool was hired for the specimens collected during the 1901 expedition to Hawaii. Critics praised both Charles Hudson and Chloe Leslie Stark as the premier natural history artists in the nation. Two of the artists, Sekko Shimad and Kako Morita, were also sought after for their skill. Both were artists from Japan. ​

During this period, we see the emergence of women illustrators. Often, the women were able to break into the field due to their close connections to a supportive male spouse or relative with close ties to the scientific profession. Stark’s husband was an ichthyologist and Stanford professor of zoology, while Anna Louise Brown’s brother-in-law was Stanford’s Secretary and Registrar and her brother an art professor at the university. Both women were exceptional scientific illustrators. ​

a tropical fish illustration

Kumataro Ito (1900s)

Credit: Kumataro Ito

One of the Smithsonian’s most prolific scientific illustrators at the turn of the twentieth century was Kumataro Ito. Ito was a Japanese artist hired by Hugh M. Smith for the 1905 portion of the Albatross expedition in the Pacific Ocean. Following his time on the ship, Ito came to Washington, D.C. to work at what is now the National Museum of Natural History. Here, he continued his work from the expedition, finalizing sketches into beautiful colored illustrations. He also worked on several commissioned projects. ​

Ito is rarely credited for his work in publications, and scholars have had to decipher context clues to appropriately attribute his work. Often, illustrations were only credited as the work from the Albatross Philippine expedition, “courtesy the Museum of Natural History,” or Paul Bartsch, a scientist on the expedition.  Following his short stay at the museum, Ito returned to Japan.​

Today, Ito is considered one of the top scientific illustrators of his time. ​

a black deep sea fish with a massive jaw

Else Bostelmann (1930s)

Credit: © Wildlife Conservation Society. Reproduced by permission of the WCS Archives.

In the 1930s deep sea exploration was just becoming possible due to the invention of pressurized pods that allowed explorers to travel far below the sea surface. Else Bostelmann painted the world they saw.​

​Researchers Otis Barton and William Beebe crammed themselves into a spherical submersible, dove to depths beyond where light could reach,  and then relayed to the ship above what they saw. Bostelmann drew the deep-sea fish using only the descriptions from the men. Her illustrations revealed a world of brilliant and bizarre creatures completely new to the scientific community.​

​Bostelmann also devised a method that allowed her to dive to shallow depths and paint from the seafloor. With a bulky copper diving helmet, she would drop to the seafloor with a zinc engravers plate, steel pin, easel, canvas, oil paints and brushes. Her novel method allowed for the depiction of ocean life as it was in real life rather than from specimens brought to the shore once they were dead.

A red fish illustration

Mary Margaret Smith (1940s)

Credit: The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa, Art by Mary Margaret Smith CC-BY-NC-SA

Margaret Mary Smith became an accomplished scientific illustrator despite no formal training. Her husband, a South African chemist and angler, decided to turn his hobby into a more formal pursuit and began to study fish in earnest. Margaret accompanied her husband, James Leonard Brierley (JBL) Smith, on fishing expeditions and helped him collect specimens. They soon realized that an authoritative and accurate reference on South African fish species did not exist, so Margaret took it upon herself to learn how to draw the fish.  Together they published The Sea Fishes of Southern Africa in 1949. Her illustrations are considered an exceptional example of scientific illustration and show that even in the age of the camera, artwork is still indispensable.