Johann Rudolph Schellenberg

Johann Rudolph Schellenberg (4 January 1740, Basel – 8 June 1806, Töss, a district in the city of Winterthur) was a Swiss artist, writer and entomologist best known for his illustrations of insects.

Johann Rudolph Schellenberg:
Self-portrait (etching, c. 1780)

During his career he performed illustrative work for Johann Heinrich Sulzer, Johannes Gessner, Johann Kaspar Lavater and Johann Kaspar Füssli.[1] He illustrated a number of entomological works, a few being:

  • Johann Heinrich Sulzer's Die Kennzeichen der Insekten, nach Anleitung des Königl. Schwed. Ritters und Leibarzts Karl Linnaeus. Mit einer Vorrede des Herrn Johannes Gessners, published in Zurich in 1761.
  • Johann Jacob Roemer's Genera Insectorum Linnaei et Fabricii iconibus illustrata published in Winterthur, Steiner in 1789.
  • His own Genres des mouches Diptères représentés en XLII planches projettées et dessinées et expliquées par deux amateurs de l'entomologie, published in Zurich in 1803. This work has 42 plates.[2]

The municipal library in Winterthur has about 4000 of his insect watercolors.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Schellenberg, Johann Rudolf Historischen Lexikon der Schweiz
  2. ^ Biodiversity Heritage Library (published works)
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  • "Johann Rudolf Schellenberg". SIKART Lexicon on art in Switzerland.
  • Johann Rudolph Schellenberg in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.