How scientific illustrations preserve the fleeting colours of life

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When a specimen dies, its vibrant palette often vanishes. For curators of natural history, the loss of pinks, yellows, and blues in preserved fish and plants creates a scientific crisis. Fortunately, centuries of meticulous artistry provide a permanent record of what these species looked like in life.

Preserving the biological integrity of a collection is a race against chemical decay. In many natural history archives, the pigments in organisms like birds, plants, and fish decline rapidly after death. For instance, James Maclaine, Senior Curator of Fish at the Natural History Museum, notes that many specimens in their collection have turned brown. This occurs because the majority of fish specimens are pickled in alcohol, a process that fails to preserve vital pigments. Without these colours, the ability to accurately identify and classify species becomes significantly more difficult.

Scientific illustration serves as a vital scientific resource, not just an aesthetic one. Some drawings have become 'iconotypes'—the foundational images upon which the original description and name of a new species are based. Any researcher investigating such a species must refer back to these specific illustrations. This importance is exemplified by the John Reeves Collection. Reeves, a tea merchant with the East India Company, lived in Macao for 19 years starting in 1812. He commissioned Chinese artists to document flora and fauna, instructing them to capture the precise distinguishing features of each species.

The history of this field is also a story of individual dedication. Sarah Bowdich (1791–1856) was a notable figure who functioned as both an author and a scientific explorer. She was the first European woman to conduct detailed plant collection for scientific purposes in tropical West Africa. Her work, alongside others, reflects a long-standing awareness among nineteenth-century scientists that colour had to be recorded almost immediately to capture a true likeness of a living creature.

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