Portfolio Note Cards - Seashells

Portfolio Note Cards - Seashells

The light, decorative frames of Galison's Seashells note cards suggest carefree beachcombing, but the story of the seashells' illustrator is amazing. German artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) sailed to Surinam on a mission to accurately depict the flora and fauna: native butterflies, beetles, flowers, reptiles, these shells, and more. She endured great hardship as she collected and artistically illustrated her specimens. Peter the Great purchased her illustrations and kept them in his art cabinet in St. Petersburg. Our portfolio holds three each of four note cards: Mitra, Turricula, Fusus, Cymatium, and Scalaria snails; Nerita--Nerita, Natica; Cone Shells--Conus; and Seashells, various, all watercolor and gouache on vellum executed 1704-1705, and all originals in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, Russia.

12 notecards 4-3/8 x 5-3/4", 12 envelopes