G. W. Knorr (1705-1761); Leinberger - Palaeontology Fossils Rocks - Folio - Earth Science

Georg Wolfgang Knorr was a German paleontologist, as well as a painter, draftsman, engraver, collector and art dealer. At age 18, he became a copperplate engraver for Leonhard Blanc, working with Martin Tyroff on the illustrations for Jacob Scheuchzer’s Physica Sacra (1731). Later he engraved portraits, landscapes, geological formations, and animal studies after Dürer and the Kilian family. In the second half of the 18th century, Nuremberg overtook Augsburg as the center of production for fine natural history books in Germany. There, Knorr published scientific works distinguished by their beautiful hand-colored plates. His works include two posthumous productions: Deliciae Naturae Selectae Oder Auserlefenes Naturalien Cabinet (1766-67), and Les Délices Des Yeux et de L’espirit, ou Collection Generale des Differentes Espèces de Coquillages (1764-73).

This fine large folio copper plate in original hand colour.

From the scarce work: Die Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen…. 1768

39.5 x 24.5 cm

Exquisite original hand colour.

"Ex museo Christoph Schmidel" refers to the source of the fossils / minerals displayed. Casimir Christoph Schmidel (born 21 November 1718 in Bayreuth, Germany, died 18 December 1792 in Ansbach, Germany) was a naturalist of the 18th century who researched in botany and mineralogy. Among genera he named are the flowering plant genera Penstemon and Proboscidea and the fern genus Thelypteris. Among species he described are the red alga Dilsea carnosa.