Denton, Sherman Foote (1856-1937), Quadruped Category

Sherman Foote Denton was a true Renaissance man; a naturalist, traveler, artist, entrepreneur, collector, inventor and author. His interest in natural history encompassed not only fish, but butterflies, moths, insects, birds, fossils, fresh water pearls and gems. During the 1880’s, Denton and his brothers accompanied their father, a geologist, on expeditions to Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea where he collected natural history specimens. Upon his return, Denton worked as an artist for the US Fish Commission at the Smithsonian Institute, where he illustrated their reports and also developed and patented a method for mounting fish without them losing their natural colors. He became the leading maker of fish models for collectors and museums, such as the Smithsonian, the Field Museum in Chicago and the Agassiz Museum at Harvard. Denton was hired by the State of NY Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission to illustrate their annual reports, providing the watercolor illustrations for some 100 chromolithographs. Denton’s superb drawings vividly illustrated the appearance of live fish, and set the standard for natural history fish illustrations.

Prints from the The First Annual Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests of the State of New York, by Sherman Foote Denton