Untitled: hydrozoan
This untitled drawing by PH Gosse initially appears slightly abstract - ethereal human forms balanced precariously on the rim of a cylinder. A line drawing of this was published in his book ‘Evenings at the Microscope’ p345 where he describes these tiny organisms in detail. Gosse thought he was the first person to observe these parasitic hydroids and named them Lar sabellarum in 1857, however they were actually described a decade earlier and are now known scientifically as Proboscidactyla stellata.
Object Summary
- Accession Loan No.
- 809/1997/10
- Category
- Fine Art
- Collection Class
- Drawings
- Medium
- yellow and white chalks on paper painted black
- Common Name
- Untitled: hydrozoan
- Simple Name
- drawing
- Period Classification
- Victorian (1837-1901)
- Production Town
- Production County
- Devon
- Production Country
- United Kingdom: England
- Production Person Initials
- Philip Henry
- Production Person Surname
- Gosse
- Production Year Low
- 1850
- Production Year High
- 1880
