artist Antoni Brants (1847 – 1931)

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

By profession, Brants was a prominent legal figure. He studied law and earned the title of Mr. (Meester in de rechten). He served for many years as the Griffier (Registrar/Chief Clerk) of the provincial government of Gelderland, living and working in Arnhem.

Like many 19th-century naturalists, Brants pursued entomology as a serious hobby. He was an active member of the Netherlands Entomological Society (Nederlandse Entomologische Vereniging), serving as its Voorzitter (President) during the late 19th century.

Brants possessed immense talent as an artist. Because photographic imaging did not yet exist for scientific publications, his meticulous, microscopic drawings of insects were vital to the society's journal, the Tijdschrift voor Entomologie. He regularly supplied original figures (signing plates as "A.B. del.") for papers authored by his contemporaries, including his close associate Pieter Snellen

Copies of illustration in this website by Antoni Brants for Pieter Snellen:-

Macna oppositalis

Tonica effractella

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera artists

Australian moths

(written 27 October 2026)