A new online database on scientific illustrators (DSI) compiled at the section for history of science and technology of the University of Stuttgart will be portrayed in its main features. The DSI lists illustrators of scientific publications of all genres (esp. atlases, articles, textbooks) who were active between 1450 and 1950, thus excluding illuminators of medieval manuscripts as well as illustrators still active. We have now reached 4900 entries (as of Feb. 28, 2013) and plan to get to 6000 entries by mid-2012. Currently DSI still puts particular emphasis on anatomy and dermatology, astronomy, mineralogy, botany, zoology and general natural history, but other fields such as geology, chemistry and physics will also be included. Access to the database with its 20 search fields is free and open to all interested users at

www.uni-stuttgart.de/hi/gnt/dsi/

with links to a separate search window, a list of our main sources, contributors etc. We also created a subpage where you can send us data on missing illustrators or supplement existing entries with additional information.

Why do we currently compile such a database? The reason is that existing compendia such as Thieme-Becker, Benezit or Bryan's mostly feature “artists” catering to the art market and claiming to produce true “art,” even though such claims by graphic artists in the print and photographic media were contentious for quite some time. Most illustrators of scientific works do not meet this criterion and thus many of them are not covered in existing reference works. They fell through the cracks. Historians of art did not consider them “genuine” artists, while in the past historians of medicine, science, and technology often deemed them mere aids or handymen for their biographical key subjects: the scientists. The meagre state of knowledge about many of these commissioned draughtsmen, engravers, etchers, woodcutters, painters, colourists, lithographers, photographers, and other illustrators has long been known and has often been deplored. Yet little has been done to redress it. This we would now like to change. Modern media permit an entirely new, prosopographical approach by surveying their education, careers and family ties, patronage and clients, their regions of activity, archival and secondary sources on each of them etc. This allows us to gain a deeper understanding of this important group of individuals and, in so doing, develop a greater grasp of scientific practice and of their intricate social networks of family ties and collaboration. We will focus on the search options open for all now, but a few preliminary conclusions on these clusters and networks from our ongoing research will also be presented.