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C1886
[Mantis Latistylus / The Broad-Styled Mantis.]
Artist:
Rare Australian lithograph of the Large Brown Mantis from Frederick McCoy’s, Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria. McCoy arrived in Melbourne in 1854 to assume the inaugural Professorship of Natural Science at the recently established University of Melbourne. Over the … Read Full Description
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S/N: ZOV-13130-ENT–218325
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Details
Full Title:
[Mantis Latistylus / The Broad-Styled Mantis.]
Date:
C1886
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Lithograph printed in colour.
Image Size:
150mm
x 225mm
Paper Size:
180mm
x 270mm
AUTHENTICITY
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Genuine antique
dated:
1886
Description:
Rare Australian lithograph of the Large Brown Mantis from Frederick McCoy’s, Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria.
McCoy arrived in Melbourne in 1854 to assume the inaugural Professorship of Natural Science at the recently established University of Melbourne. Over the ensuing four decades, he played a central role in the scientific community of the colony. Serving as the first Director of the newly established National Museum of Victoria. McCoy played a pivotal role in the museum’s rapid growth and the expansion of its collection. He meticulously curated an exceptional natural history and geological collection, incorporating mining models and drawing on his extensive knowledge of international sources. In 1870, the Museum of Natural and Applied Sciences, Melbourne, was placed under the oversight of the Public Library trustees. Despite persistent challenges in securing funds and navigating plots to relocate the museum, McCoy’s steadfast defence and solace lay in the institution’s popularity and scientific reputation.
Common name: Large Brown Mantis, Bunny Mantis or Australian ghost hopper Mantis
Modern binomial name: Archimantis latistyla
First described: Serville, 1838
Distribution: SA, VIC, SA, NSW, QLD
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 850045
State Library New South Wales: Call Number: DSM/Q591.992/M
State Library Victoria: RARELT 591.9945 M13
State Library South Australia: 591.9945 M131 b
Smithsonian Institution: Call Number QL339.V6 M12
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1055668
John James Wild (1824 - 1900)
John James Wild (1824-1900) Wild was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1824, John James Wild taught languages in Belfast, Ireland, where he met his wife, Elizabeth Ellen Mullin. Wild was appointed to the position of artist and secretary to the 1872-76 Challenger expedition. This first global investigation of the ocean's depths established the discipline of oceanography as a collaborative and interdisciplinary science. The most significant contribution by Wild to the many volumes associated with the expedition was Thalassa; an essay on the depth, temperature and currents of the Ocean, for which he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich. He also published an illustrated popular account of his travels, At Anchor, in which he described Melbourne and produced engravings of Port Philip Heads and the Mountain Ash forests. Despite these impressive accomplishments Wild was curiously unsuccessful in finding a position fitting his extraordinary range of expertise, after emigrating to Melbourne in 1881. Having applied, again without success, for appropriate work in New Zealand, he patched together a living in Melbourne, lecturing in modern languages and literature at Trinity College, working as an examiner in French and German matriculation, and as a secretary and artist. In the Challenger's floating laboratory, Wild had used dissection and the microscope extensively to describe and illustrate marine specimens. Frederick McCoy clearly saw the potential of this experience to elevate the scientific sophistication in his own publications. Engaged to create lithographs of both terrestrial and marine animals, Wild's Prodromus pages were carefully planned and tightly conceived. His images are notable for their precision and formal clarity. Deep appreciation for geometric patterns in nature is obvious in Wild's depiction of the radial symmetrical of animals such as Echinoderms. His portrayals of marine invertebrates were generally more convincing than those of higher forms, especially where he was tempted to place animals in a semi-realistic tableau. A frugal artist, Wild characteristically drew on both sides of paper and took particular care to fit as much information as possible onto each page, giving many compositions a crowded appearance.
