The Life of Ferdinand Bauer Ferdinand Bauer was an Austrian botanical illustrator born in Feldsberg, Moravia, in the Habsburg monarchy. The youngest son of Lucas Bauer, a court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, he was raised under the guidance of the physician and botanist Norbert Boccius. His early training included working in Vienna under Nikolaus von Jacquin, where he studied the Linnean taxonomic system, microscopy, and lands…