SOME of the finest botanical and zoological paintings in the world are going on display at the Bodleian’s Weston Library in Oxford.

Painting by numbers, a new display running from tomorrow until July 9, brings together watercolours and sketches by the celebrated European botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826), including paintings of marine animals which have never been displayed.

The display focuses on Bauer’s ground-breaking two-year expedition to the eastern Mediterranean with John Sibthorp (1758-96), Sherardian Professor of Botany at Oxford.

Admission is free.