Scientific Illustration

From around the age of 14 on, I have been fascinated by scientific illustrations.  As a teenager, my room was filled with anatomical drawings; when my grandma was diagnosed with lung cancer I sent her a detailed charcoal drawing of a set of lungs.  I still believe they are ridiculously underappreciated as an art form, though I also think their quality has declined with the advent of digital technology that can just produce a model on a computer.  Meticulously  drawn diagrams of plants and animal bone structures always captured my attention in biology class far more than the lessons being taught, but I have no doubt that these illustrations helped me to understand the beautiful intricacies of science better.  Not only do they serve an aesthetic purpose but they are instructional, and I for one have no problem with art being used as a tool to

get people interested in or excited about academics.  Prior to photography, they served as a means of relaying information all over the world; for example, zoologists in England could see what a rhino looked like without ever having seen one in person.  It used to be in Europe that only executed prisoners were allowed to be dissected (and occasionally in public).  Due to Christian convictions at the time, it was believed that dissection prevented any possibility of entering heaven and the forgiveness of the deceased’s sins.  Many anatomical illustrations are, in fact, of executed criminals.