Seligmann Edwards Lemur Studies
18th Century Engravings

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Ring-Tailed Lemur Mongoose Lemur
Mongoose Lemur detail
George Edwards (1694-1773) (artist)
Joh. Sebastz. Leitner (engraver)
Johann Michael Seligmann (1720-1762) (editor)
Lemur Catta Linn., Plate XLI [Ring-Tailed Lemur]
Lemur Mongoz Linn., Plate XXXIXB [Mongoose Lemur]
from Sammlung verschiedener auslandischer un seltener Vogel [A Natural History of Uncommon Birds]
Nuremberg: mid 18th Century
Hand-colored engravings
10 x 7.5 inches each
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Pair of lemur prints from Seligmann's edition of George Edwards' A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, and of some other Rare and Undescribed Animals, Quadrapeds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c., one of the most comprehensive of all English 18th-century natural history works. Edwards' primate prints, like his bird prints, are rendered in a scientific manner, distinctly 18th-century in conception and style, generally personified yet retaining some characteristics of the natural habitat. Both prints show lemurs with fruit, seated on an elevated patch of grass and posed anthropomorphically. The Lemur Mongoz Linn crouches over a basket of fruit as if on a picnic. The Lemur Catta Linn print depicts three lemurs, the main one in the foreground with another's head peeking from behind it, and another in the background in a natural stance.

George Edwards, born in Essex, England, worked as Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians while creating his hugely successful series of colored drawings of animals and birds. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Society and later elected a Fellow. Edwards studied art in Holland, but found his true vocation in 1718, when he traveled to Norway and studied the birds who lived in the rocks and precipices there. With the materials he had collected, he applied himself to the study of natural history, making colored drawings of birds and animals. He continued his studies in Holland and Brabant, and was appointed in 1733 as Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians. There he oversaw an important collection, which made him one of the most eminent ornithologists of the day.

Johann Michael Seligmann was an engraver and art dealer in Nuremberg, Germany, a major 18th-century center for art publishing. He also engraved and published works by other prominent natural history artists, including Mark Catesby and Georg Ehret.

References:

Redgrave, Samuel. A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists. London: Longmans, Green, and Col., 1874. p. 134. (Edwards)

Williamson, George C., ed. Bryan 's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. London: G. Bell and Sons: 1930. Vol. 3, p. 204. (Leitner)