Two 19th Century Dinosaur Drawings Commissioned by H. Knipe For His Famous Book Nebula To Man

Two original late 19th century drawings, commissioned by Henry R. Knipe for his famous book Nebula to Man, published by J.M. Dent & Co., London, 1905.
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Henry R. Knipe (1854-1918), a geologist from Tunbridge Wells in Sussex, was a member of the Linnean and Geological Societies. He wrote two works on palaeontology: Nebula to Man (1905), which was written in rhyming verse; and Evolution in the Past (1912). Knipe's obituary in Geological Magazine recorded that he devoted “much time and labour to the popularization of the study of extinct animals in this country. With the aid especially of the Staff of the British Museum... he attempted to portray the animals of the past as they appeared when living, and sparing no expense, he employed the most skilled artists to carry out his plans”. The impressions of the discovered fossils excited the public and today remain quite accurate in their representations.

The two drawings forming this group include:

Joseph Smit (1836-1929)
‘Iguanodon’
​Signed lower left
Watercolour and gouache en grisaille on paper,H. 27 x W. 18.5 cm

Charles Whymper (1853-1941)
‘Triassic Labyrinthodont, and Belemnite’
​Signed lower right
Watercolour and gouache en grisaille on paper,H. 25 x W. 17.5 cm

Joseph Smit was a Dutch zoological illustrator born in Lisse. In the 1870s, Hermann Schlegal commissioned Smit to produce lithographs of birds of the Dutch East Indies for the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in Leiden. For most of his career, Smit produced illustrations for scientific books chronicling animals, particularly birds, around the world. Smit found success as one of the most sought after Victorian natural history illustrators, contributing to works by John Gould, Daniel Elliot and Lord Lilford.

Charles Whymper was an illustrator and painter from London formally educated at the Royal Academy Schools. His works were exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors, the New Gallery, and the Fine Art Society in London. By 1909, Whymper published Egyptian Birds for the Most Part Seen in the Nile Valley, his own scientific collection of illustrations and descriptions. The same year, he was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolors.