European Elk 

Peter Rindisbacher, a Swiss-American artist, made this watercolor of a European Elk on paper in the early 19th century. Rindisbacher was known for his depictions of daily life, military actions, and Native American customs in the American West. This image, labeled "From Nature," belongs to a larger history of natural science illustration. From the 17th century onward, European scientific academies sponsored expeditions to map and document the flora and fauna of the wider world. Illustrators were often commissioned to make detailed images, and these served as vital records back in Europe. Rindisbacher’s work is interesting because it brings this institutional practice to bear on the American continent. What does it mean to apply these European modes of documentation to the animals of the “new” world? If we want to understand more, we might look at the records kept by natural history museums from this period. We should remember that the images we see are always made within specific social and institutional contexts.