Larisa Dmitrievna Bondar,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Docent, St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia; St. Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Alexey Vladimirovich Smirnov,
Candidate of Biological Sciences, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dina Mikhailovna Andreeva,
St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia; Creative Union of Artists of Russia, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ornithological Drawings in the Materials of D.G. Messerschmidt
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-3-17
The drawings preserved in the archival heritage of the scientist, physician and naturalist Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt (1685−1735), have repeatedly become the object of research attention. The traveler’s manuscripts are provided with drawings and sketches in all fields of knowledge that he addressed. The vast majority of the graphic material from the personal papers of Messerschmidt, which is stored in the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has already been described and published in studies devoted to various aspects of the traveler’s scientific activity. This publication is a continuation and, to a large extent, the conclusion of the review of Messerschmidt’s illustrative zoological material, which has been identified so far. With a certain degree of confidence, it can be argued that ornithology was the priority research topic of the traveler. In this regard, ornithological material and ornithological drawings are presented in several blocks of documents from the Messerschmidt’s papers: the travel diary, the final report − manuscript “Sibiria perlustrata”, and appendices to reports sent from Siberia to St. Petersburg. The most extensive and, perhaps, the main surviving scientific manuscript of Messerschmidt is a voluminous and thoroughly written work, compiled by the scientist himself into ten volumes, with the general title “Ornithologicon” and containing a description of 226 species of birds. A number of descriptions are provided with drawings explaining the anatomy of the species, the features of the plumage, etc. Adjacent to the “Ornithologicon” is the manuscript “Mantissa ornithologica sive de avium nidis et ovis Lucinæ sacra”, which contains descriptions of bird clutches, also accompanied by sketches of eggs. All these drawings complement the portrait of Messerschmidt as an ornithologist − naturalist who strives to create a scientific relation with perfectionist precision. Messerschmidt provided an exhaustive description of the species (from nomenclature and distribution to detailed anatomical analysis) and the nests and clutches found, and the sketches available in the manuscripts served to specify the details. The accuracy of the scientist was manifested not only in the detailed representation of the species, but also in the care with which the necessary images were executed.
Publishing: 28/06/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 15/03/2025
How to cite: Bondar L.D., Smirnov A.V., Andreeva D.M. Ornithological Drawings in the Materials of D.G. Messerschmidt // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 3 (41), pp. 249−273. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-3-17.pdf]
Links: Issue 3 2025
Keywords: D.G. Messerschmidt; ornithology; sketches; manuscripts; “Ornithologicon”; “Mantissa ornithologica”