JOHANN JAKOB SCHEUCHZER - SEA FISHING - "DISPLAYING THE CATCH" RARE FOLIO ENGRAVING 1732 - 1735

This beautifully executed and superbly decorative copperplate engraving of sea fishing - "displaying the catch" - is from the lavishly illustrated natural-theological "Physica Sacra” (Sacred Physics). Published in Latin, German and French between 1731 – 1735.

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, a Swiss doctor and natural scientist prepared and shaped the monumental "Physica Sacra” as an explanation and commentary on the Bible.

“A lifelong scholar, Scheuchzer’s pursuits of knowledge were wide ranging and diverse, from science to medicine to paleontology. Like many scientists of the late 17th century and early 18th century, Scheuchzer held to the belief that the Old Testament was a factual account of the history of the earth…In a period before public museums, Scheuchzer presented a seductive view of an imaginary world, viewed through the lush frames depicting secondary symbols, plants, animals, heads and other objects, providing the viewer rich material for an inspired vision of the interaction between the natural world and the divine powers.”

University of Massachusetts Science, Religion, Art exhibition – Dartmouth 2007/8

Scheuchzer personally supervised the hundreds of illustrations which were largely based on his own natural history cabinet and other famous European collections. The main designs were principally created by Johann Melchior Füssli, Daniel Preissler produced the fine borders, and the eminent engravers included Georg Daniel Heumann and Johann August Corvinus.

Originally printed in b/w, this plate has been masterfully hand painted by one of the most respected colourists specialising in fish in the United Kingdom today.