Product Review

Physician Ernst Haeckel (German, 1834–1919) was profoundly influenced by reading Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species—he gave up his medical practice and began a lifelong study of evolution and zoology. In Kunstformen der Natur, or Art Forms in Nature, Haeckel published exquisitely rendered depictions of flora and fauna in ten installments of ten illustrations each from 1899 to 1904, aiming to widen the public’s understanding of naturalism. He clearly thought of his works as more than just scientific documentation: in introducing one of his plates, he wrote that its patterns would not be out of place in embroideries or on urns and bottles.
These illustrations are from a copy of Kunstformen der Natur in the Case Book Collection in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. The Library holds over 164 million items in almost all media and in more than 470 languages.