Historia Naturalis Ranarum
The description of nature on a scientific basis was founded in the Age of Enlightenment. Basic research in numerous fields was carried out for the first time and was documented in books and the first scientific periodicals - on the basis of precise observations, experiments, and investigations. This work on frogs is one of the library's fine examples of the scientific pioneering efforts and magnificant mediation of that period, where an extensive text is supplemented by visual documentation via plates - all of which are reproduced both as line drawings and with colouring. Augustus Iohannes Roesel von Rosenhof (1705-59), miniature painter and natural scientist, was an autodidact naturalist, but as a passionate observer of nature he became an outstanding professional and visual mediator of fauna everywhere around us in the microcosmos - the fascinating world of amoebas, polyps, insects, and here frogs. His illustrations of the shapes of nature are reproduced with great accuracy, but also elegantly and lifelike with the sure sense of composition, shapes, colours, and decorative details of the professional artist. |