BAUER, Ferdinand (1760-1826)

botanical artist

was born at Feldsberg, Austria, on 20 January 1760. His father was court painter to the reigning Prince of Lichtenstein. In 1784 Dr John Sibthorp, who was visiting Vienna, engaged Bauer to accompany him on a voyage to Greece and the Greek islands as natural history painter. Bauer returned with Sibthorp to England to finish the drawings for his Flora Graeca. There he met Sir Joseph Banks (q.v.), and in 1801 was appointed botanical draughtsman to the expedition to Terra Australis under Captain Matthew Flinders (q.v.). He sailed on the Investigator with Flinders and proved to be a most capable and industrious draughtsman. He had made 700 drawings of plants and animals by July 1802, and about 12 months later he speaks of having completed nearly 600 more. He returned to England in 1805.

In 1813 Bauer began his Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae which was not a financial success, partly because the artist was so conscientious that he endeavoured to do all the work himself including the colouring of the plates. He returned to Austria in August 1814 but continued to do much work for English publications including Lambert's Pinus and Lindley's Digitalis, etc. He died on 17 March 1826. A brother, Francis Bauer, F.R.S., F.L.S. (1758-1840), was botanical painter to George III and did work of great merit. The name of Bauer has been perpetuated in several Australian plants, and Cape Bauer on the Australian coast was named after Ferdinand by Flinders.

John Lhotsky, The London Journal of Botany, vol. II, 1843. p. 106; J. H. Maiden, Sir Joseph Banks, p. 69; Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, vol. III.