Red-bellied Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus

Red-bellied Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus (Shaw) by Arthur Bartholomew. Drawing, pencil, watercolour and wax on paper, 17cm x 26cm. Drawing for Plate 1 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria by Frederick McCoy.

In 1858, Frederick McCoy was appointed the Director of the National Museum of Victoria and he started work on a project to publish a "Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria". (The word Prodromus means preliminary description).

The ""Prodromus "" was an enormous undertaking, utilising the work of numerous artists, collectors, lithographers and publishers, over an extended period of time. Although costly in both financial and professional terms, it was met with critical acclaim and wide popular support. Financial battles were waged and lost by McCoy, but ultimately the ""Prodromus"" has stood the test of time and remains one of Museum Victoria's finest publications.

McCoy engaged the best artists to create images of Victoria's fauna for the education of the 'colonists', who would require an empirical account of those animals upon which industries might be based, along with pests that could threaten agricultural expansion. One of these artists was Arthur Bartholomew. Methodical and systematic in his approach, Bartholomew's work was characterised by a fastidious attention to detail and remarkable technical facility."