: Natural History

Rudolf Blaschka c 1913. Image courtesy of the Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

A colourful model of the Portuguese Man-of-War sea creature - Physalia arethusa.

Actinophrys sol

Argonauta argo

Aurelia aurita

Doliolum mulleri

Amgueddfa Cymru holds a remarkable collection of beautifully detailed glass models of sea creatures made, in the latter half of the 19th century, by the uniquely skilled glass-worker and naturalist Leopold Blaschka.

Plants and animals for new museums

The second half of the 19th century was a time of great scientific discovery. New museums were opening to the public with their galleries displaying plants and animals from across the globe. For many groups of animals this was easily done. Birds, mammals, reptiles and even fish could be skinned and mounted to produce lifelike representations.

But what about soft-bodied animals, such as jellyfish and sea anemones, which were preserved in spirit? Their colours quickly faded and their shapes became distorted. The German glass-worker and naturalist Leopold Blaschka devised a solution to this problem. Together with his son, Rudolf, he established a successful business supplying glass models, mostly of marine animals, to museums worldwide during the latter half of the 19th century.

Leopold Blaschka

Leopold Blaschka was born in 1822 in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic. The Blaschka family, originally from Venice, were skilled workers in decorative glass, and Leopold showed artistic skill from an early age. Soon after leaving school, he joined his fathers' business crafting ornaments from metal and glass.

Leopold experimented with making glass models of flowers. Later, in 1863, he made models of sea-anemones which were exhibited in the Dresden Museum, Germany. These attracted the attention of curators of natural history museums who ordered sets of anemone models. Soon Leopold added models of jellyfish and snails to his repertoire. His son Rudolf was by this time working with him.

The Blaschkas were keen to keep up with the demand from museums. An early catalogue dating from 1871 listed nearly three hundred models. By 1888 the catalogue published by Henry Ward, their American agent, listed seven hundred!

The Blaschkas relied on illustrations in books as sources of reference for the glass animals. Many of the models are three dimensional representations of animals that they never saw in reality. However, in later years they increasingly based models on observations of real animals, either during field trips or from live specimens in specially built aquariums in their house.

Their early work was described in their catalogues as 'decoration for elegant rooms'. Comparison between early and later models made in the 1880s shows a distinct tendency towards scientific accuracy and away from the more showy earlier style.

Complex structures

The models varied greatly in complexity and their construction. Component parts were made from both clear and coloured glass, using a combination of glass blowing and lamp working techniques. Other materials were also used where appropriate. Fine copper wires reinforced or attached delicate tentacles and gills, and painted paper cleverly represented internal structures. They also made use of the actual shells of snails to which the modelled glass bodies of the animals were attached.

Production of the glass animals ended in 1890 when they were offered an exclusive contract to supply plant models for the Botanical Museum of Harvard University in the United States.

Leopold died in 1895, at the age of seventy-three. Rudolf continued working single-handedly until he retired in 1936. He died three years later at the age of eighty-two. By that time their collection consisted of 847 life-sized model plants and over 3,000 enlarged flowers and anatomical sections.

Their plant models remain on display at Harvard University to this day, attracting over 100,000 visitors annually.

The Glass model collection held at Amgueddfa Cymru were acquired in two batches. One hundred and thirty eight models were purchased from the Blaschkas by the old Cardiff City Museum in 1890. A further sixty two models came to the museum in 1927 from the Science Museum in South Kensington, London. Examples range from the early 'showy' forms, to more scientifically accurate examples of jellyfish and sea anemonies.

Leopold Blaschka, about 1895. Image courtesy of The Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Rudolf Blaschka, about 1895. Image courtesy of The Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

A source picture of the Paper Nautilus (Argonata argo) model.

A broken Paper Nautilus model.

The Paper Nautilus model after conservation.

Amgueddfa Cymru holds around 200 beautifully detailed glass models of sea creatures created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Made in the latter half of the 19th century, these intricate and extremely fragile items have been subject to years of open display and poor storage conditions, causing them to become damaged and dirty.

Irreplaceable works of art

These beautiful glass representations of marine animals were originally developed as educational models. Now they are now considered to be works of art, with a value that makes them irreplaceable.

Conserving the Blaschka models is fraught with difficulties. Given their age and complexity, great care has to be taken before attempting to clean or repair the models. The accumulation of decades of dirt, and damage from past repairs must be rectified without damaging or altering the original model.

The first stage of any conservation project is to understand what the object represents, and then to understand how it is made. The Blaschka models are an intricate blend of glass, paint and textured coatings that have been put together to show the textures and colours of the animal in life.

Shifting decades of dirt

Firstly, a suitable way of cleaning the models had to be found, then methods had to be developed for removing previous repairs. Finally, where required, the models needed to be repaired.

The models proved to be very difficult to clean. Surface paint had been applied to many of the specimens to add texture and colour. These had attracted surface dirt over the years, which was very hard to remove.

A range of solvents and cleaning solutions were carefully tested. Whilst water (with a non-ionic detergent) proved effective for removing the dirt, the surface paint was soluble and was in danger of being washed away. Eventually white spirit was found to shift the dirt without damaging the original surface paints.

Removing past repairs

Many of the specimens, especially the cephalopods, had become repeatedly broken and repaired over time. Many of these repairs were now discoloured or failing. Some parts, for example tentacles, had been re-attached in the wrong place.

The older repairs tended to use animal glue that could easily be softened in water, but this required care where the surface paint was present as this was water soluble. Other glues were dissolved by acetone. Once the old glues had been removed, the models then had to be reassembled.

Re-repairing correctly

The glass used to manufacture most of the models was very thin and brittle. Some of the collection had been broken into numerous pieces, and, in the past, detached pieces were fitted back in the wrong place.

Firstly, any new repairs made to the models needed to be reversible in the future. Epoxy resin based adhesives were quickly ruled out due to their strength, lack of reversibility and long-term stability problems. The consolidant, Paraloid B-72TM, was chosen because it is a stable material that remains reversible and can be removed if required. It is also forms a weak repair that will fail before the glass, reducing the chances of damaging the models further. This material is also slightly visible in certain lights, allowing future curators of the collection to identify previous conservation work.

The conservation work was developed to improve the visual appearance and integrity of the models, without further altering the original structure. The Blaschkas' glass models are an important collection, which is still used today. The work carried out on the collection will help ensure its continued survival for future generations to enjoy.

During the late 19th century, Leopola Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son Rudolf (1857-1929) produced beautifully detailed glass models of bizarre sea creatures for natural history museums and aquaria all over the world.

Their work has been hailed as: “an artistic marvel in the field of science and a scientific marvel in the field of art.”

Today, the Blaschkas seem remarkably contemporary: working as they did on the cusp of design, craft, art and industry.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images from a selection of these remarkable glass models held at Amgueddfa Cymru.

The death of Joan Morgan, in Bangor in 1998, ended a remarkable life in entomology [the study of insects] and resulted in a major acquisition of more than 50,000 specimens for Amgueddfa Cymru.

Mike Wilson, head of entomology at Amgueddfa Cymru inspecting the Bangor collection

Changes to teaching in British universities over the last thirty years has resulted in many teaching collections being gradually broken up or discarded.

Sometimes, these important university teaching collections have been built up over many years by dedicated individuals interested in teaching and research.

Joan Morgan

Joan Morgan moved to Bangor in 1953, teaching full-time at the University College, Bangor. For over forty years she was an enthusiastic field worker, collecting thousands of specimens, particularly from north Wales, building up an impressive insect collection at the university.

The collection's importance cannot be over-emphasized. It provides evidence of many species at many locations, along with reference material and around 60,000 card based records.

On retirement, Joan Morgan continued to maintain and add to the collection. After her death, the college agreed that the collection should be transferred to Amgueddfa Cymru.

The collection contains around 50,000 specimens, mostly British, and covers all groups of insects, including an excellent representation of specimens from north Wales.

After a quarantine period in a freezer the specimens were successfully integrated into the entomology collections at the Museum. This helped the Museum create the most important collection of Welsh insects in Britain. It is a very valuable resource for research by scientists worldwide.

Fluid preserved specimens over a hundred years old and are a potential source of DNA studies.

The Extinct Tasmanian Wolf.
DNA extracted from the skin of Museum specimens has been used to study the relationship of the Tasmanian Wolf to other marsupial animals.

Historic insect collections are a valuable source of future genetic studies.

The growing crisis in the world's biodiversity has created new demands on the biological collections held in museums. In addition, modern techniques are allowing us to look at our collections in new ways such as analysis of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). It is now possible to extract and read the DNA from museum specimens but this can depend on how they have been stored and preserved.

Irreplaceable collections

Over three million biological specimens are housed at Amgueddfa Cymru. As the pressure on our natural environment increases, these collections are becoming an ever more important resource. Many of the species collected are now either extinct or so highly endangered that further collection is not possible. Many of these specimens are irreplaceable and vital in helping us understand biodiversity and climate change.

Preserving biological material can be very difficult. Biological material, including DNA, decays rapidly. Chemical treatments are aimed at preventing this decay, allowing the long-term preservation of biological specimens.

Early preservation

Preserve museum specimens date back over 300 years. Initially only dry and inert specimens could be preserved. Alcohol was first used in the 17th Century, formaldehyde (formalin) was introduced in the 19th Century. These methods enabled a wide range of specimens to be preserved - but were developed before DNA was known about.

It can be very difficult to obtain DNA from specimens preserved using formalin. Other chemicals, such as ethanol (alcohol), are useful in the preservation of both the specimen and its DNA.

Using DNA from the collections

DNA can be used in many areas of study, such as work on evolution, species identification, and ecology. DNA studies at Amgueddfa Cymru include:

• Researching Hunter snails from East Africa and using DNA to study how they are related to each other.
• Freshwater pearl mussels are highly endangered in Wales. Museum researchers are using DNA to look at the genetics of the remaining populations to help in their conservation.
• Lichens are an important aspect of biodiversity, but difficult to identify. DNA is being used to help identify lichens.

DNA - a fragile resource

Unfortunately DNA can be damaged in many ways. Following the death of an organism, DNA molecules break down very quickly. This means that careful and quick conservation of specimens is needed to ensure the preservation of the DNA as well as the specimen as a whole.

The museum is involved in researching methods of DNA preservation. One method is storage in -80°C freezers or liquid nitrogen. Some museums have already set up frozen-tissue banks, but these methods are expensive.

Ongoing research aims to improve our understanding of the effects of these treatments, helping us keep our specimens DNA intact for the future.