Lake Zurich

Ferdinand Lucas Bauer
calendar 2026

On 17 March 2026, the 200th anniversary of Ferdinand Bauer’s death will be commemorated. He is regarded as one of the most important botanical illustrators and painters of all time. A picture calendar is a fitting tribute to this Austrian-born artist.

Ferdinand Bauer was born on 20 January 1760 in Feldsberg, Austria. During his studies at the University of Vienna, he met the Oxford professor of botany John Sibthorp, who invited him to join a research expedition to Greece. The plant watercolours Bauer created as a result of this journey established his reputation as an exceptional artist.

Sir Joseph Banks, the founder and first director of Kew Gardens in London, also took notice of Bauer’s talent. He enabled Bauer to join Captain Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of Australia (1801–1803) aboard the ship Investigator. Together with Scottish botanist Robert Brown, Bauer explored and documented the Australian flora, which was mostly unknown to Europeans.

Ferdinand Bauer is often referred to as the "Leonardo of Nature Painting" because few artists have managed to combine scientific accuracy with artistic beauty as he did. This was achieved mainly due to his sophisticated colour-coding system. Today, over 2,000 of his drawings are held in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, while his watercolours are preserved in the Natural History Museum in London.