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The De Alwis brothers
The two brothers George (dates unknown) and William de Alwis (1842-1916) were both talented natural history artists. Through their drawings they have made a lasting contribution to our understanding of the butterflies and moths of Sri Lanka (previously known as Ceylon). Their father, Haramanis de Alwis Seneviratne (1792-1894) was a botanical artist who worked at the Botanic Gardens in Ceylon at Kalutara between 1818-1822 and Peradenyia from 1822-1861. By his retirement in 1861, he had illustrated over 2,000 plants. His son William was appointed to succeed him to continue the work as a botanical artist. G. H. K. Thwaites, the Director of the Botanical Garden at Peradeniya between 1849 and 1880, was greatly impressed by William de Alwis’ botanical drawings. He subsequently recommended to Sir W.H. Gregory, the Governor of Ceylon, that William should undertake a project to draw from nature the butterflies and moths of Ceylon. Thwaites supervised the drawings, many of which were illustrations of specimens that he had collected himself. As William's brother, George De Alwis also showed much talent,
Sir Gregory employed him at his own expense to copy some of
the drawings already made and to prepare new ones. The brothers’
drawings were considered to be of such accuracy that they
were used by a number of authors publishing on the lepidoptera
of Ceylon.
The De Alwis Drawings Collection The collection consists of 71 watercolour drawings of Lepidoptera of Ceylon drawn between 1874 and 1878. Bound in a large folio volume, the drawings depict with great accuracy the adult butterflies and moths, their larvae and pupae and occasionally associated food plants. It is believed that most of these drawings were completed by George De Alwis for the Governor of Ceylon, Sir William H. Gregory. Find out more about the butterflies
of Ceylon.
Exhibition and publication details Frederic C. Moore (1830-1907) used these drawings in his book The Lepidoptera of Ceylon (1880-87). L. G. O. Woodhouse and George Morrison Reid Henry (1891-1983)
also used these figures for illustrating the early stages
of the butterflies described in their work The Butterfly
Fauna of Ceylon (1942).
References and further reading D’Abrera, B.L. (1998) The Butterflies of Ceylon. Hill House: Melbourne; London. 224pp. Henry, G. M. R., Woodhouse, L. G. O. (1942) The Butterfly Fauna of Ceylon. Colombo ; Ceylon. 153pp. Moore, F. C. (1880-87) The Lepidoptera of Ceylon. L. Reeve & Co. : London. 3 v. Pethiyagoda, R. (1998) The family de Alwis Seneviratne of
Sri Lanka: pioneers in biological illustration. Journal
of South Asian natural history. Vol.4, pp.99-110.
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