Fish, Mollusks and Crustaceans of the Venetian Lagoon and the Upper Adriatic
In this, my first exhibition as an illustrator, I present a series of fish, mollusks, and crustaceans painted in watercolor.
There are 56 plates depicting 76 different species that live in the Venetian Lagoon and the Upper Adriatic. Some of these can be found in the rocky areas at the lagoon inlets and in the so-called “tegnùe,” rocky seabeds located offshore from Lido di Venezia and Pellestrina.
Many of these species are edible and can be found in our local fish markets, while others can only be observed through scuba diving.
Botanical and zoological illustration, although present in Egyptian, Roman, and medieval times in different forms and for different purposes, only found a truly scientific approach during the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer are notable examples.
In the 18th century, scientific illustration made a significant leap forward, thanks in part to Carl Linnaeus and his rational system of classification. However, it was in the 19th century that scientific representation reached its peak: following the publication of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, many illustrators began depicting increasingly unusual species.
Illustration thus played a key role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge until the late 19th century, when photography began to replace this art form.
Nevertheless, the importance of illustration extended—and still extends—beyond the scientific field, inspiring artists such as John Ruskin and Vincent van Gogh, who chose to depict crabs; Piet Mondrian, who painted flowers with an illustrator’s precision; and Katsushika Hokusai, who produced prints of plants and birds.