Pierre Lyonnet or Lyonet (21 July 1706 – 10 January 1789)
was a Dutch
artist and
engraver who became a
naturalist. He was a collector both of shells (a major collecting craze at the time) and paintings, whose collection included ''
Woman Reading a Letter'' by
Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
, now in the
Rijksmuseum. This fetched far less than his best shells in the auctions of his collection after his death.
Biography
According to the RKD he was a pupil of
Hendrik van Limborch
Hendrik van Limborch (9 March 1681 – 3 February 1759) was a painter and engraver from the Northern Netherlands.
Limborch was born in The Hague as the son of a lawyer and became the pupil of Jan Hendrik Brandon, Robbert Duval, Jan de Baen and ...
,
Carel de Moor, and
Jan Wandelaar.
[Pieter Lyonet](_blank)
in the RKD
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
He was secretary and translator (he spoke more than eight languages) for the government of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
.
Initially he trained as a
lawyer before choosing to specialize in the engraving of
natural history and the work of
dissection. He illustrated ''Theology of the insects, or demonstration of the perfections of God in all that relates to the insects'' (1742) of
Friedrich Christian Lesser (1692–1754) and ''Treatise on the polyps'' (1744) of
Abraham Trembley
Abraham Trembley (3 September 1710 – 12 May 1784 Geneva) was a Genevan naturalist. He is best known for being the first to study freshwater polyps or '' hydra'' and for being among the first to develop experimental zoology. His mastery of exp ...
(1710–1784). He then decided to make his do own observations and to write his own
monograph on the anatomy of the insects. His first work appeared in 1760 under the name of ''Anatomical treatise of the caterpillar which corrodes the wood of Willow''. He illustrated 4,041 different muscles thus. He lacked the anatomical knowledge of
Jan Swammerdam
Jan Swammerdam (February 12, 1637 – February 17, 1680) was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect— egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the ...
(1637–1680) and of
Marcello Malpighi
Marcello Malpighi (10 March 1628 – 30 November 1694) was an Italian biologist and physician, who is referred to as the "Founder of microscopical anatomy, histology & Father of physiology and embryology". Malpighi's name is borne by several ph ...
(1628–1694) and his observations show it. His book was received with scepticism which affirmed that Lyonnet imagined the details which he drew with so much precision. It was to counter these criticisms, that he put in the second edition which appears in 1762, a drawing of its instruments and a description of its method. Lyonnet planned to study the
chrysalis and the
adult but, sixty years old, the tiredness of his eyes obliged him to stop his projects.
Lyonnet was elected a
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
on 14 January 1748.
[ ]
References
*
; Illustrations from ''Traité anatomique'' (1750): larva of the willow moth
willow moth>
Image:Lyonnet 1.jpg, Larva of the willow moth
Image:Lyonnet 2.jpg, Central nervous system with the nerves
Image:Lyonnet 3.jpg, Muscles
Image:Lyonnet 4.jpg, Head
Image:Lyonnet 5.jpg, Larva of the willow moth
Image:Lyonnet 6.jpg, Lyonet's dissecting outfit
Literature
* Wouter Hendrik van Seters, ''Pierre Lyonet, 1706–1789: Sa vie, ses collections de coquillages et de tableux ses reserches entomologiques'' (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962).
* Emile Hublard, ''Le naturaliste hollandais Pierre Lyonet: sa vie et ses oeuvres (1706–1789) d'apres des lettres inédites'' (Brussel: Lebègue, 1910).
* Karl Maria Michael de Leeuw, ''Cryptology and statecraft in the Dutch Republic'' (Amsterdam: APA-Holland University Press, 2000) .
* Koen Scholten, "Pierre Lyonet's (1706–1789) Study of Insects: Displaying Virtue and Gaining Social Status through Natural History", ''Studium'', vol. 11:4 (2018): 245–259.
* "Van lezen en microscopen IV: Trembley en Lyonet" (Leiden: Museum Boerhaave, 1978)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyonnet, Pierre
1706 births
1789 deaths
Dutch illustrators
Dutch entomologists
Dutch naturalists
Dutch engravers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Artists from Maastricht
Art collectors from The Hague