Ferdinand Bauer is seen by many as thegreatest natural history painter of all time. Hand-picked by Joseph Banks, in 1801-1805 Bauer accompanied MatthewFlinders during his circumnavigation of Australia, and lived in New South Walesand Norfolk Island. Already celebrated in Europe for the precision and beautyof his paintings, it was during this commission that Bauer perfected the techniqueof sketching and colour-coding in the field, and then colouring later - painting by numbers.

This fascinating new study of Bauer's workincludes reproductions of never-before-published works from collections inEurope and Australia. Written by oneof the world's foremost botanical scholars, Paintingby Numbers reveals Bauer's innovative colour-coding technique for the firsttime.