Trochilidae [Hummingbirds] (1904)
Plate 99 from Kunstformen der Natur by Ernst Haeckel (German, 1834–1919)
Dozens of hummingbirds arranged across the plate in a radiating composition — wings spread, beaks extended, plumage rendered in the jewel tones that made Haeckel's illustrations famous: iridescent greens, deep crimsons, electric blues, the burnished copper of the Horned Sungem. Each species is distinct. Each is also part of a larger pattern that is more decorative than scientific, more Art Nouveau than field guide.
Ernst Haeckel was a German zoologist, naturalist, and artist who described and named thousands of new species over the course of his career, and coined many of the terms still used in biology today. His Kunstformen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature), published in ten installments between 1899 and 1904, collected 100 lithographic plates depicting the natural world with a precision and compositional ambition that had never been attempted at that scale. The book was intended to demonstrate that nature itself was the supreme designer — that the forms found in biology were not merely functional but beautiful, and that art and science were not separate disciplines but expressions of the same underlying order.
The plates became one of the most influential visual documents of the early 20th century, shaping the aesthetic vocabulary of Art Nouveau and inspiring architects, designers, and artists across Europe. Plate 99, Trochilidae, is among the most celebrated — a plate that works as taxonomy, as decoration, and as an argument about what the natural world looks like when someone takes the time to actually look.
Species depicted include: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Horned Sungem, Crimson Topaz, Red-tailed Comet, Tufted Coquette, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Buff-tailed Sicklebill, Dot-eared Coquette, White-vented Violetear, Hooded Visorbearer, Juan Fernandez Firecrown, and the Booted Racket-tail.
Rectangle Canvas Wrap
Gallery-quality canvas with fade-resistant inks and a 1.25" deep pine frame sourced from renewable forests. Arrives wrapped and ready to hang.
- Materials: cotton and polyester composite canvas, pine wood frame
- Inner frame: radiata pine from renewable forests
- Leveling bumpers included for wall protection
- Ready to hang — mounting hardware pre-attached
Care: Dust gently with a clean, damp cloth as needed.