Natural History Gallery

David Attenborough, British naturalist

David Attenborough. Caricature of the British naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Frederick Attenborough (born 1926) holding a frog. Attenborough is most famous for the numerous BBC television nature documentaries he has presented. In the 1960s and 1970s he was controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television. His awards include Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1974), Fellow of the Royal Society (1983), Knight Bachelor (1985), Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (1991), Companion of Honour (1996) and the Order of Merit (2005)

© GARY BROWN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1551 Gesner armoured rhino after Durer

Gesner Woodcut "Icones Animalium" 1560, reproduced from 1551. Published Christoph Froschover, Zurich. Gesner reproduces this image faithfully from the famous 1515 woodcut by Durer, (who himself had only sketches to go on). The particular individual featured here was the gift of a Sultan, taken from India in January 1515 and arriving in Lisbon in May. People were astounded to see this animal - hitherto the only existing reports were in the accounts of the ancients such as Pliny. None had been seen in Europe for over 1000 years. Confirming Pliny's account was a vital validation of the texts from antiquity for renaissance scholars. The king of Portugal sent the rhino on to the Pope but it drowned, chained to the deck, in a shipwreck off Italy - hence the rather fanciful drawing of Durer and Gesner who never actually saw it. This image remained an icon for for centuries

© PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1829 Silhouette William & Frank Buckland 1829 Silhouette William & Frank Buckland

Silhouette first produced by Auguste Edouart of "William Buckland and his Wife and Son Frank, Examining Buckland's Natural History Collection. The original is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This copy is composited from a copy in "The Life of William Buckland" by his daughter Mrs. Gordon (1894). It shows the famous early palaeontologist William Buckland with a range of specimens including (hanging) an Irish Elk skull, in his hand a hyaena skull, on the table an ichthyosaur skull. Baby Frank is next to an elephant or mammoth skull. His wife Mary (ne Moreland) holds nautiloids. Buckland's Christ Church household was famously strange, he kept exotic animals including Hyaenas and a free range black bear called Tiglath Pileser who would raid local sweet shops, Frank - (Francis) Buckland went on to be a famously eccentric naturalist in his own right

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com