Arthur Bartholomew (3 December 1833 – 19 August 1909) was an English-born Australian engraver, lithographer and natural history illustrator.
Biography
Arthur Bartholomew was born on 3 December 1833 at Bruton in county Somerset, England, the son of a decorator Thomas Bartholomew and Charlotte (née Wright).Family records, Ancestry.com. He was apprenticed to an engraver in Exeter and acquired some training in lithography.'Arthur Bartholomew', Museums Victoria website; accessed 16 September 2025.
Bartholomew emigrated to Australia aged 18, arriving in Melbourne aboard the Oriental in December 1852. He spent the early period in Australia travelling around, including to Tasmania where he met his future wife, Eliza Nicholls.Shipping Intelligence, The Argus (Melbourne), 11 December 1852, page 4.
After returning to Melbourne, Bartholomew became assistant to the zoologist William Blandowski, producing illustrations for his various projects.
At an exhibition held by the Victoria Industrial Society in November 1856, an artwork by Bartholomew (described as "water colour drawings, representing fish of Victoria") was included with a group of framed engravings sent by William Blandowski.Victoria Industrial Society, The Age (Melbourne), 12 December 1856, page 3. In 1856 the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, with financial backing from the colonial government, initiated a scientific expedition to the Murray River led by Blandowski. The expedition camped on the south bank of the Murray River (near the site of present-day Mildura) between December 1856 and April 1857, from where specimens were collected and conveyed to Melbourne.Vanessa Finney (2023), pages 42-73.
Prior to Blandowski's departure for the Murray River, Bartholomew travelled to northern Tasmania, where on 26 August 1856 he married Eliza Ann Nicholls at Longford.Tasmanian BDM record: Arthur Bartholomew and Eliza Ann Nicholls, 1856, Longford; Record ID: 857055. The couple remained in Tasmania until about mid-1859, where two of their children were born.
On 1 September 1859 Bartholomew was appointed as attendant to the zoologist and palaeontologist Frederick McCoy in the department of Natural History at the recently established Melbourne University. For the next six months he attended McCoy's lectures and assisted in work in the laboratory. Bartholomew was given increasing responsibility as McCoy became aware of his artistic talents and the potential of his contribution to future projects.
Bartholomew started on a series of zoological and geological illustrations, contributing to the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria and Prodromus of the Palaeontology of Victoria. In the next forty years he illustrated more than 700 natural history specimens as well as palaeontology and geological specimens. Bartholomew also transferred many drawings, of his own work and those of other artists, onto stone for the production of lithographs.Frederick McCoy (1885) Natural History of Victoria: Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, Volume II (Decades XI to XX), Melbourne: John Ferres, Government Printer.
Bartholomew's illustrations were "characterised by a fastidious attention to detail and remarkable technical facility". Typically his methodical approach involved the successive application of watercolour glazes to build depth into his colour, occasionally applying layers of varnish if appropriate to the subject. His illustrations were usually completed in the laboratory, using specimens of varying quality and freshness made available to him. Insects and other small creatures were sometimes kept alive in the laboratory to facilitate studies of the live animal.'Bartholomew's Work', Museums Victoria website; accessed 16 September 2025.
After McCoy's death in May 1899 Bartholomew retired from the university's Natural History department. He continued to illustrate for the Victorian Museum until his death.
At the time of his death in 1909 Bartholomew was living at 5 Newry Street, in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy North.Judicial and Law Notices, The Argus (Melbourne), 1 October 1909, page 6.
Arthur Bartholomew succumbed to a fatal stroke after a year of illness and died on 19 August 1909, aged 75.
Gallery
Notes
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References
Sources
Vanessa Finney (2023), Putting Nature in its Place: The Australian Museum, 1826 to 1890, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney.
External links Google Art Project