"Der Liebe zur Naturgeschichte halber"

Johann Natterer (1787-1843) was one of the first european naturalists who succeeded to advance to the then almost unknown interior of Brazil. For 18 years he continued to explore the country in order to search unkown aminal species, out of “love for Natural History”. Johann Natterer was not a traveling genius, „no Humboldt“, as he himself admits. Working in the „wilderness“, far away from all important places of knowledge as museums and universities, he was one of many European naturalists, who´s collecting work made specimens of all branches of Natural History available for scientific research. Ten of thousand of these specimens and ethnographic artefacts still enrich the stocks of various museums. The story of his expeditions in the context of the history of sciences and the significance of traveling and collecting for the production of knowledge in the field of early 19th century Natural History are closely connected to the personality of this restless collector, who´s first detailed biography is presented here. Natterers travels lead throughout Brazil, from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon, and back to Europe, where images of tropical experiences are reproduced in museums, in journals and travel accounts.