Seba, Albertus (1665-1736)

Albertus Seba was an apothecary who had an extensive collection of specimens for study. He collected the rarest of exotic animals; snakes, insects, butterflies and conch, as well as plants. Seba commissioned artists to make meticulous drawings of his diverse collection, resulting in his stunning folio of the most dramatic natural history prints from the early 18th Century, the “Loccupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descripta” (Cabinet of Natural Curiosities). This was a four volume work containing 446 beautiful copperplate engravings, published in Amsterdam between 1734-1765.

Prints from this publication are extremely rare and feature expert later hand coloring.