Gustaf Kolthoff

Gustaf Isak Kolthoff (14 December 1845 – 25 October 1913) was a Swedish ornithologist, taxidermist and naturalist.

He joined other naturalists on collecting expeditions, to Greenland in 1883 with Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and in 1898 to the Norwegian Arctic coast with Alfred Gabriel Nathorst.

He established a museum in Djurgården, Stockholm in 1893 along with Bruno Liljefors (who painted the backgrounds) and Carl Bovallius.

Here he made dioramas depicting the Swedish coast, a boreal forest and other habitats.

[2][3][4] The use of dioramas in natural history museums spread to other parts of Europe and the US subsequently.