Animal Art of the Day – ART HISTORY ANIMALIA

Archive by category "Animal Art of the Day" (Page 3)

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Turtle Day: an unusual tortoise portrait from 18th Century England, and its connection to Ottoman Turkey

May 23rd is World Turtle Day! This tortoise painting was an interesting find in the British portraiture rooms at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Even the signage acknowledges how unusual it is!

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Endangered Species Day: Van Gogh’s exotic animals

The 3rd Friday of May is Endangered Species Day. Although Vincent Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890) never traveled outside of Europe, he painted at least two different animals from faraway lands…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for World Binturong Day

Happy World Binturong Day, celebrated annually on the 2nd Saturday in May! This watercolor of a Binturong is from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Wild Koala Day: “Australian Bears and Australian Pears”

Fauna: Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) (Reminder: not really a bear! It’s a marsupial.)Flora: Western Wooden Pear (Xylomelum occidentale) (Also not a true pear.) While Marianne North is primarily known as a pioneering botanical artist of the nineteenth century, many of her paintings include native fauna as well. Her life’s work of…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for International Zebra Day #2: Zebras in ancient mosaics

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Compared to other well-known African ungulates like giraffes, hippos, & rhinos, zebras are rather rare in ancient mosaics. I’ve only been able to locate 5 examples, all Byzantine from the 5th-6th c…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for International Zebra Day #1: George Edwards, George Stubbs, and the first British zebras

January 31st is International Zebra Day! First up, images of the first known zebras imported into Great Britain.

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Penguin Awareness Day: Japanese penguins?

Haori with Penguins and Icebreaker ShipsJapan, mid-Shōwa period, 1957-58silk plain weave, stencil-printed warp and weft[photos by author] Penguins (Spheniscidae) are found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, with only the Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) skirting the other side of the equator. They definitely aren’t native to anywhere near Japan! I saw…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY: Today is the “Feast of the Ass” so here’s a donkey dish

January 14th is Feast of the Ass day! Yes, that’s a real thing — it originated as a niche Christian medieval feast day celebrated primarily in France as part of the Feast of Fools. I suppose that feast’s name should’ve prepared me for my encounter with this donkey dish at…

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for Alfred Russel Wallace’s Bicentennial: Wallace’s Flying Frog

Alfred Russel Wallace was born #OTD 200 years ago (8 Jan. 1823). Here’s his original sketch & published drawing of a frog previously unknown to science & now named in his honor, Wallace’s Flying Frog:

ANIMAL ART OF THE DAY for International Red Panda Day: Europe’s first image(s)

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Happy International Red Panda Day, celebrated annually on the 3rd Saturday of September! The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens, which roughly translates to “shining cat”), is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It is the only extant species of the Ailuridae family, nestled within the “weasel…