Later this month, the Natural History Museum, London, presents a little-known aspect of its collections to the public — a selection of 70 works of natural-history art from its massive collection of some half a million. The exhibition is called ‘Images from Nature’, and birds, bugs and botanical specimens are all predictably well represented. Yet there are also less obvious subjects, such as ‘pebbles found on British beaches’ and copper ores, as well as a couple of vivid lichens executed in watercolour and pencil.

Shown here is Bryan Kneale's depiction in chalk of a giant tortoise (1990), one of the ‘bone drawings’ he produced while associated with the museum. Other exhibits come from the great days of exploration and the hands of such illustrators as Ferdinand Bauer and Sydney Parkinson, who sailed with Cook on the Endeavour (and died on the return leg of the journey). The organizers have also failed to resist the temptation to include examples of the design work of the Natural History Museum's architect, Alfred Waterhouse — justifiably so, for his chunky drawings are a refreshing contrast to the delicacy of some of the other pictures.

The exhibition is at Christie's, King Street, London SW1 (not the museum itself), and runs from 9 to 20 February.