In 1603 Prince Federico Cesi formed the Accademia dei Lincei with a group of friends. Cesi, together with Francesco Stelluti embarked on a systematic field collection of fossil woods from his lands around Aquasparta in Umbria, Italy. An integral part of this research was not only to draw and describe the fossils but to also place them in their field context using a series of field drawings. The work on the origin of fossils was not completed by the time of Cesi’s death in 1630. Their researches were widely known around Europe as is seen in contemporary correspondence. After the death of Cesi Stelluti was persuaded to publish a short volume on the preservation of the fossils in 1637 titled “ Trattato del legno fossile minerale”. Only one of the field sketches, however, was included in this work and this probably represents a composite image. A map of the fossil localities was, however, included. The corpus of the drawings became part of the Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo and these were bought by King George III in 1762 and brought to England. The collection is now part of the Royal Collection in Windsor Castle belonging to Queen Elizabeth II. Among the group of drawings is a series of field sketches of such quality that the outcrops have been identified and fossils collected to match the 17th Century drawings. The Lincei study involved field and laboratory investigations and is the first detailed attempt to try to understand the origin of fossils using such a range of observations. The approach to use a combination of field drawings together with remarkably accurate drawings of the fossils from the rocks was not followed by others. It is possible that the interpretation by Stelluti, that the fossils were not once living, may have contributed to the neglect of this work. It is also possible that the quality of the published field sketch was less impressive than those in the original drawings and this also played a part in them being ignored. These researches were forgotten by the time more detailed and widespread geological observations were being made and the combination of detailed field and specimen drawings and descriptions did not become commonplace until more than 150 years later.