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art_history_animalia

@art_history_animalia@historians.social

Transdisciplinary zoologist exploring animal iconography from around the world via intersections of natural history with art & visual culture history.
Current research interests include opossum & coati iconography; the visual record of Australasian monotremes & marsupials; parrots in European art; exotic birds in early modern Dutch art; and the contributions of women to the visual record of zoology.

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art_history_animalia , to random
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:
Aloys Zötl (Austrian, 1803-1887)
Two Surinam or Amazonian Horned (Ceratophrys cornuta), 1884
watercolor, double pen & black ink framing lines
16 1⁄8 x 20 in. (40.9 x 50.8 cm)
https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6468042

"The bestiary of the untypical Austrian artist, Aloïs Zötl, is highly varied. The sale of one hundred and fifty watercolours from the artist’s studio included some six drawings of animals from the amphibian family (Hôtel Drouot sale, Paris, 19 December 1955, lots 39-44), which did not however include this piece. Even when painting animals of which he had direct visual experience, the artist drew his inspiration from existing iconography, for example, engraved illustrations from natural history treatises....These two Amazonian or Surinamese frogs (with the female in the foreground and the male in the background), are approximately fifteen to twenty centimeters long, carnivorous, and eat prey including lizards, small frogs, and other mammals." signed & dated ‘Alois Zötl fecit am 14 Juni 1884’ (lower R), inscribed ‘Amphibien Taf. 37’ (lower L), ‘Weibchen.’, ‘Die Hornkröte. Rano Cornuta.’ & ‘Mänchen.’ (lower C); numbered ‘86’ (lower R)
ALT
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    art_history_animalia , to random
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    For :
    Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, R.A. (British, 1901-1979)
    The fashion parade (aka A variety of Modena in vegetation), c.1950
    oil on canvas, 25 ⅛ x 30 ¼ in (63.8 x 76.8 cm)

    https://www.bada.org/object/charles-frederick-tunnicliffe-ra-1901-1979

    “The fashion parade presents the viewer with a kaleidoscopic perfection of balance, a compositional structure that marries aesthetics and subject matter with execution and natural form. The dark central pigeon, dominating the centre of the painting, is balanced by the lighter birds that encircle it - their striking plumage set off by the rich range of greens of the foliage, and punctuated by the pinks of their legs. The scattered leaves and constellations of daisies (not too many, not too few) frame the pigeons, and work together to help create a faultless visual equilibrium, designed, harmonised, and executed by the hand of a master.”
    ALT
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    art_history_animalia , to random
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    Portrait of a , viewed from three sides
    Lombard Master, c.1540-1560
    oil on canvas, unlined
    via Sotheby's: https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/the-courts-of-europe-n09107/lot.108.html

    oil painting of a gyrfalcon (large white falcon with black tips on wing and tail feathers), composite portrait showing 3 views of the same bird (back, front, side) in a row perched in trees with blue sky in background "The sport of falconry, practiced since ancient times, was a pursuit particularly enjoyed at Medieval and Renaissance courts. The gyrfalcon, shown here, is the largest of the falcon species; the size of the bird, almost certainly painted from life and to scale, suggests it is a female, and the grandeur of the portrait, presenting it from three viewpoints, raised above the clouds, indicates it was both a cherished pet and valued hunting companion. While incredibly rare, such portraits were not unprecedented. In a letter in the Gonzaga ducal archives, addressed to one Scaramella, the sender requests that a white gyrfalcon be sent to Mantua to be seen by Costa (likey Lorenzo Costa, the court painter) for a commissioned portrait...."
    ALT
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    • + sohkamyung
    art_history_animalia , to random
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    appreciation post:
    Marble cylinder seals from ancient Mesopotamia, Late Uruk / Jamdat Nasr Period, c. 3500-2900 BCE:
    (7) Three
    (8) with a Plant
    on display at The Morgan Library & Museum NYC

    Scorpion with a Plant seal (numbered 8 on display) “Displayed here are seals with modern impressions replacing the clay used in antiquity. Below each impression is a photographic enlargement that clarifies the detail and beauty of the carving.”

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    For #WorldTurtleDay 🐢:
    Tsuba with Design of #Turtles and Water
    Okamoto Shigetsune, Chôshû School
    Japan, early 19th c.
    iron (decorative technique: sukidashi-bori, nikubori, kebori)
    7 x 6.8 x 0.4 cm (2 3/4 x 2 11/16 x 3/16 in.)
    The Art Institute of Chicago 11.11583: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11366/tsuba-with-design-of-turtles-and-water
    #JapaneseArt

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    For #WorldBeeDay 🐝:
    #Bee -shaped ornaments
    Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
    Gold, H. 15/16 in. (2.4 cm) x W. 7/8 in. (2.2 cm)
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 17.175.53, 17.175.38:
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44825
    https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/52204
    #KoreanArt

    official museum photo of the object, top-down profile on grey background: small gold costume ornament in the shape of a striped bee with open wings, duller tarnished color than previous example

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    #Baturday :
    Maurice Pillard Verneuil (French, 1869–1942)
    Chauves-souris et pavots, tenture (#Bats and poppies, hanging)
    From Plate 33 of L'animal dans la Décoration, 1897
    https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chauves_souris_et_pavots_tenture_papillons_et_campanules_papier_peint_-_L%27animal_dans_la_decoration_(1897)_by_M._P._Verneuil_(New_York_Public_Library,_enhanced_by_Rawpixel)_506%27790171_o.jpg
    #ArtNouveau

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    Happy !
    Norman Lewis (American, 1909-79)
    Migrating , 1954
    oil on canvas
    This entry won the Popular Prize at the Carnegie International Exhibition in 1955, making Lewis the first African-American artist to receive the award.
    https://www.arthistoryproject.com/artists/norman-lewis/migrating-birds/

    "In 1955, Norman Lewis became the first African-American artist to receive the Carnegie International Award for this celebrated painting. The critic for the New York Herald-Tribune proclaimed Lewis's work "one of the most significant events of the 1955 art year." This work demonstrates Lewis's continued commitment to the natural world, using representation as the starting point for abstraction. Within the golden yellows which cover the canvas completely, Lewis creates a mass of movement and energy with his application of sharp, white strokes of paint which conjures up images of birds in flight. Lewis's sense of duality, the abstract and the representational, are in complete balance in this prized painting. The sensation is that of multitudes of birds taking flight in the blazing sun and sky." https://www.theartstory.org/artist/lewis-norman/ image credit: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York. © Estate of Norman W. Lewis [educational use]
    ALT
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    art_history_animalia , to random
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    Happy #HedgehogWeek ! 🦔
    Ralph Waterhouse (British, active USA, b.1943)
    #Hedgehog, n.d. (c.1960s-70s)
    watercolor on paper, 26 x 36 cm
    https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Hedgehog/986A03F49E9A0E41
    🆔 European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus)

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    :
    Jemima Blackburn (Scottish, 1823-1909) Hedgehog with young in their habitat, 1858
    watercolour heightened with white, 23.5 x 33cm

    https://www.lskauctioncentre.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-2407---jemima-blackburn-1823-1909---hedgehog-with/?lot=540496&so=0&st=&sto=0&au=811&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=4&g=1#

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    For #SaveTheElephantDay on #TwoForTuesday 🐘🐘:
    Two #Elephants
    from Manafi al-Hayawan (Uses of Animals) by Ibn Bakhtīshūʻ (ʻUbayd Allāh ibn Jibrāʼīl), Maragheh, Iran, 1297-1300 (w/ 19th c. additions)
    The Morgan Library & Museum MS M.500 fol. 13r
    https://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/7/77363

    art_history_animalia , to random
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    For #SaveTheElephantDay on #TwoForTuesday 🐘🐘:
    Amrita Sher-Gil (Hungarian-Indian, 1913-1941)
    Two #Elephants, 1940
    Oil on Canvas, 46cm X 54.3cm
    National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
    https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/two-elephants-amrita-sher-gil/
    #WomenArtists

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