In addition to furthering research, one of the benefits of classifying on Science Gossip is the chance to see some fantastic Victorian illustrations. Just because an image was intended for scientific purposes, did not preclude it from being an aesthetic object: there was plenty of overlap between scientific and artistic depiction in the Victorian period.
Some of the most immediately eye-catching illustrations are those with brilliant colour schemes. It took less than a week for volunteers to find the brightly coloured illustration used for the background of the project, as covered by a Daily Zooniverse post.
While many illustrators and engravers used flashes of colour for decoration and to portray important scientific information, skilled illustrators working in black and white were also able to capture the natural beauty of their subjects. From the Amazon Rainforest and squirrels to some rather intriguing depictions of walruses, citizen scientists and professional sketch artists captured the fine details of the natural world in their depictions.
As awe-inspiring as these illustrations are, some Victorians felt that they paled in comparison to the real world. J.G. Wood declares in his Common Objects of the Microscope (1861) that ‘no pen, pencil, or brush, however skillfully wielded, can reproduce the soft, glowing radiance, the delicate pearly translucency, or the flashing effulgence of living and ever-changing light [. . .] whose wondrous beauty astonishes and delights the eye, and fills the heart with awe and adoration.’ Even with this in mind, many of the warm and stunning illustrations that volunteers are finding are, as user yshish noted about the botanical drawing below, “Beautiful!”
Science Gossip classifiers have also discovered a wealth of decorative elements within the pages of scientific periodicals. While these decorated capitals and banners are not considered illustrations for the purposes of Science Gossip classifications, they liven up otherwise text-heavy pages and show how Victorian scientists appreciated a bit of whimsy and ornamentation, just like their predecessors in print and manuscript in the centuries before the birth of citizen science.
There are plenty more illustrations to be found and classified on Science Gossip, and with your help we can continue to bring them to light!
-by Frank Vitale IV