John Conrad Hansen (1869–1952) and his scientific illustrations

Abstract

Over the course of his 14-year career at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, artist and engraver John Conrad Hansen rendered hundreds of beautiful and accurate scientific illustrations of animals – mostly extinct fossil vertebrates. His principal media were oil paintings, pencil, pen-and-ink and wash drawings. Many of his illustrations have been published in the scientific literature. His oil paintings, on the other hand, were made for display alongside specimens in the Field Museum's exhibits. Despite the quality of Hansen's full-colour reconstructions, few of them have been seen outside the Museum. A small, representative sample of his work is reproduced here, along with a brief account of his troubled life and career.