The illustrative genius of Michael J. Roberts (1945–2020): original artworks at the Natural History Museum, London

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this paper is a celebration of Michael J. Roberts's illustrative genius. It provides details about the illustrations comprising the Michael J. Roberts archive at the NHM, explains how they can be accessed by scholars, discusses how they are housed and their conservation issues, and touches upon Roberts's illustrative techniques with examples from the archive. It also showcases several plates from each of his major publications to further exemplify Roberts's considerable talents. For the future, a potential collaborative project between the NHM and the British Arachnological Society is considered, to enable scholars to view more easily the illustrations online via a portal. This paper is of interest to anyone who is interested in spiders, who uses Roberts's illustrations for identification purposes and for scientific illustrators and artists.