Paolo Viscardi: Moving the Blaschka Collection – Natural History Museum

Paolo Viscardi is a senior curator at the National Museum of Ireland – Natural History (NMINH). His background is in the natural sciences and museology and he has over 17 years’ professional experience of working with natural history collections in the UK and Ireland. As part of his varied role, he manages the NMINH collection of Blaschka models of invertebrate animals, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Event Information

The Blaschkas were a father and son team of Dresden-based lampworkers, who created exquisite models of marine invertebrates between 1864 and 1890. These models were sold by mail order to museums and universities all over the world, relying on boats and railways for their distribution. The models were based on illustrations in scientific publications, and the methods used to transform these 2D images into lifelike 3D models evolved over time. Here we discuss some of the materials and methods used by the Blaschkas to both create and distribute their delicate models. We also consider the implications of this to the ongoing care and conservation of the large collection housed in the historic exhibition building of the National Museum of Ireland – Natural History.