Of more than 1500 botanical drawings that the great Ferdinand Bauer (natural history artist on Matthew Flinders' Investigator) made in Australia between 1801 and 1805, only 25 were published. This Gymea lily (Doryanthes excelsa) was etched and hand-coloured by Bauer himself, as part of the 15 plates of his Illustrationes, but the high costs of his exacting standards made the publication unviable. Hand-coloured etching by Ferdinand Bauer, issued as plate 13 in his Illustrationes Florae Novæ Hollandiæ (London). 1816.

Produced by the The Library Shop