— Est. MMXVI —Curiosa NaturalisPlates & Folios

    — On the House —

    The Atelier

    A modern workshop devoted to the preservation, in image, of natural form.

    The atelier: an illustrator at a wooden desk surrounded by taxidermied birds, shells, pinned beetles, brass instruments and a laptop, working on a scientific plate by lamplight.
    — The drawing table at Curiosa Naturalis —

    Curiosa Naturalis is an atelier producing illustrated scientific plates for more than 10 years and in the tradition of the great natural-history folios of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — the works of Charles D'Orbigny, John Gould and Ernst Haeckel and the engravers of the Dictionnaire d'Histoire naturelle.

    Every plate begins with primary research: museum specimens, field photography, anatomical studies and consultation of taxonomic literature. From this material a first version is drafted, reviewed and then finished in digital wash to permit the precision of modern reproduction.

    — The Method —

    From specimen to plate

    Each illustration passes through three deliberate movements before it earns the imprint.

    — I. —

    Research

    Museum drawers are opened, monographs consulted, field notes cross-checked. No plate is begun without a clear understanding of anatomy, habitat and taxonomic context.

    — II. —

    Drafting

    A study is drafted at scale, then iteratively reviewed. Linework is the bone of the plate — every hair, vein and scale considered.

    — III. —

    Digital Wash

    Colour is laid in the manner of a watercolour wash, but digitally — permitting the resolution and stability that modern reproduction demands.

    Overhead view of the drawing desk: an illustrator works on a plate of a walking-leaf insect on a Wacom display, surrounded by reference books, pressed leaves, sketchbooks and pinned specimens.
    — Plate in progress: Phyllium, walking-leaf insect —

    — Materials —

    The instruments of the trade

    The studio holds a working library of more than four hundred monographs, a cabinet of pressed plants and entomological boxes, a collection of skulls and casts, and the brass instruments — dividers, callipers, loupes — that make accurate measurement possible. A close collaboration with Natural History Curiosities and field expeditions with Nature Stock.

    Natural History CuriositiesNature Stock

    Reference is everything. A plate that misrepresents its subject is, in the long view, of no use to anyone — neither the biologist who consults it nor the collector who hangs it.

    — The Catalogue —

    Across the kingdoms

    The catalogue spans mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, marine life, insects, fungi and the botanical world. Each plate is conceived as a self-contained study — anatomy, habitat, behaviour and ecological role brought together on a single sheet.

    New plates are added at a deliberate pace. Quality is held above quantity; the imprint is only applied when the plate is fit to stand alongside its predecessors.

    Overhead arrangement of finished plates: Jackson's chameleon, Commerson's dolphin, walking-leaf insect, saguaro cactus, European tree frog, violin beetle and river dolphin, with a field notebook, drafting instruments and pinned specimens.
    — A selection from the working catalogue —
    Wooden desk with finished plates spread out: a megalodon tooth study, an orchid mantis on a flower, a keel-billed toucan and a fly agaric mushroom anatomy, alongside a field journal and brass drawing tools.
    — Plates ready for licensing —

    — Licensing —

    For study, publication & private collection

    Plates are released under three licences — personal, commercial and extended-commercial — to suit the working biologist, the editorial designer, the publisher of natural-history books, and the collector of scientific imagery.

    Each licence grants high-resolution master files suitable for print at exhibition scale, alongside the watermarked previews available throughout the gallery.

    Read the licences

    Key facts

    Show
    Based in
    Antwerp, Belgium
    Practising
    For more than 10 years
    Subjects
    Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, marine life, fungi and botany
    Plate types
    Anatomical, behavioural and habitat plates
    Method
    Research from specimens and literature, pencil drafting, inking and digital wash
    Licences
    Personal, Commercial and Extended commercial — one-time purchase
    Delivery
    Instant download of the full-resolution master file
    Commissions
    Accepted from museums, publishers, researchers and brands

    Have a question about using a plate? Read the frequently asked questions or see how the atelier works on collaborations.

    — Begin —

    Browse the catalogue

    Over a hundred plates across mammals, birds, insects, marine life and botany.

    Enter the gallery