Eugen von Ransonnet-Villez
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Eugen Freiherr Ransonnet von Villez | |
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| Born | June 1838 |
| Died | June 28, 1926 (aged 87–88) Nußdorf am Attersee, Upper Austria, Austria |
| Known for | Painting, Diving, Lithography, Exploration |
Eugen von Ransonnet‑Villez (7 June 1838, Hietzing — 28 June 1926, Nußdorf am Attersee, Upper Austria) was an Austrian baron, diplomat, painter, lithographer, biologist, and explorer.
He was the son of Geheimrat Karl Freiherr von Ransonnet‑Villez, vice‑president of the Supreme Audit Institution of Austria, and Margarethe, daughter of Field Marshal‑Lieutenant Franz Ludwig Count Bigot de Saint‑Quentin. At the age of eleven he began studies at Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts and later studied law (1855–58) in Vienna. In 1858 he joined the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs, beginning his diplomatic career. In his spare time, he pursued natural sciences, photography, painting, and especially chromolithography.[citation needed]
Travels, diving bell, and underwater art
From around 1860 he traveled extensively—to Palestine, Egypt, India, and Japan—while serving as a diplomat.[1] During this period he developed a diving bell to sketch underwater scenes directly. The bell featured a porthole, seating, weighted cannonballs for ballast, and an air supply line from a boat. He used it for underwater drawing in relatively shallow water, conducting dives off Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Dalmatian coast, and the Attersee in Austria. He was the first known underwater artist.[2][1]
His experiments produced observations on how colors appeared under water, detailed in his publication Sketches of the inhabitants, animal life and vegetation ... of Ceylon ... submarine scenery (Vienna, 1867), including 22 tinted and four color lithographs.[3]