Siphonophore Sarsia siphonophora

Sarsia siphonophora (B. 657) Watercolour, 2001-2004, 2012 (ca 55 x 70 cm)

Recently I reworked a  study of the siphonophore Sarsias siphonophora.  This subject kept me busy over the years. By the end of 2012 I decided that the image was completed.
 Blog entries on other studies of this animal can be found at
Wedenesday, October 17, 2012 and  Wednesday, October 24, 2012. 

Siphonophore Diphyes sieboldii

Recently I resumed studies of siphonophore shape, I did earlier in 2008.

This blog entry compares the 2008 and 2013 versions of Diphyes sieboldii  (B. 203)

Diphyes sieboldii  (B. 203) Watercolour 2008 (30 x 20 cm)

Diphyes sieboldii  (B. 203)  Watercolour 2008 (38 x 28 cm)

Siphonophore Rhizophysa filiformis

Recently I resumed studies of siphonophore shape, I did earlier in 2008.
This blog entry compares the 2008 and 2013 versions of Rhizophysa filiformis  (B. 218)

Rhizophysa filiformis  (B. 218) Watercolour 2008 (30 x 20 cm)

Rhizophysa filiformis  (B. 218) Watercolour 2008 (38 x 28 cm)

Sarsia siphonophora

Sarsia siphonophora, detail study. 2012 watercolour (29 x 21.5 cm)

Sarsia siphonophora is another colony building jellyfish species. The study presented here shows a detail.  

Apolemia uvaria (B 201)

The Blaschka glass model 201, portraying Apolemia uvaria, was based on a figure printed in one of Carl Gegenbaur's articles: "Beiträge zur näheren Kenntniss der Schwimmpolypen (Siphonophoren)", published in: Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Band 5. (pp 285-344. Taf. XVIII, Fig. 1). This journal was published in 1854. His illustration shows a young individual of this siphonophore species. Blaschka copied the image, translated it into glass, and a copy of this model was sold to the University in Liège. This in turn served as  an example for this study in watercolour. 

Apolemia uvaria (B 201), 2012 watercolour (42x29,7 cm)

Go to my blog entry on Praya cymbiformis (B215) to read more on the influence of Gegenbauer on Blaschka glass model making. 

Praya cymbiformis (B 215) / Praya galea in "Art Forms in Nature"

In the previous entries I focussed on Ernst Haeckel. This entry focuses on plate 77 in his Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), published in 1899 -1904, in order to stimulate the decorative arts.  



Praya cymbiformis (B 215), 2009 (60x50 cm)

The image shows a recently made watercolour (2009), and it is an interpretation of Praya cymbiformis, a colony building jellyfish. The Blaschkas made a glass model of this species, with catalogue number 215. 

This watercolour of Praya cymbiformis has a pedigree going back to 1854.

In that year, the German zoologist Carl Gegenbaur describes this species in his illustrated publication: "Beiträge zur näheren Kenntniss der Schwimmpolypen (Siphonophoren)", in: Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Bd. 5. Leipzig: Engel­mann, 1854, pp. 285-344.

It is known that the Blaschkas have based circa ten models on illustrations from publications by Gegenbaur.

Gegenbaur's scientific illustrations are copied by the Blaschkas, and these copies have been stored among their documentation, to be used as preparatory drawings for the production of glass models. A few of the models of this specific species survive until today and photographic material of one of these is provided by the Natural History Museum in Geneva. In turn, this is put to use as the preparatory image for the watercolour.

So, the image went from two dimensions in the original printed publication to three dimensions in the model and then back again to the two dimensions of the photo and painting. The process of copying reminds also of 16^th century science, a period when science is highly document based. Further, it is important to understand that the image does not show an animal, but the species, a concept which is in itself an abstraction.

At every stage, the used imaging technique alters characteristics of the representation. The glass workers Blaschka specifically have added stiffness: undulating lines may have been straightened and stylised. By using watercolour, I re-introduced a wet look and feel. 

The animal indicated as Praya galea on plate 77 (Siphonophorae. Staatsquallen) in Kunstformen der Natur / Art Forms in Nature  by Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) looks quite similar, and it is based on Haeckel's work on the siphonophores of the Challenger expedition. (E. Haeckel, ‘Report on the Siphonophorae collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-1876’   Report on the Scientific results of the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873 – 76 [ …], Zoology 28 Pt. 27  - 1888) .
Haeckel applies elaborate undulation to the stem of the colony and to the tentacles, thus adding extra decorative features to the image. This is interesting, because Haeckel intends to influence specifically the decorative arts by the wealth of forms found in nature. Reiling takes this idea one step further, by exploring the representations of invertebrates and reinterpreting these as art forms in their own right.