Re: Thylacine illustrations

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/14/02 6:28:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
dannj@alphalink.com.au writes:


<< It's definitely from a well-known photograph. The enclosure seen in the
background is a dead ringer (excuse the pun) for the wire cages used in
the Hobart Zoo at the time. I believe the photo is also housed in the
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (according to "Tiger Tales" written by
Col Bailey). >>


       I'm sorry, but I believe you are mistaken, unless you can refer me to 
that photo. First, there is no enclosure in the Knight painting--only 
vegetation. I am assuming, therefore, you are referring to the Gleeson 
painting (the one with the pup in pouch). According to the website, the US 
National Zoo had a specimen in about 1902, with young. At this time both 
Knight and Gleeson had been working with F.A.Lucas, then at the Smithsonian, 
in D.C., on illustrations for _Animals of the Past_among other projects. 
Gleeson did this watercolor and Knight actually did two studies: the painting 
reproduced here at the Thylacine website, and a second, frontal drawing of 
the head compared to an opossum and a wolf (with skull drawings included) for 
The Century magazine. I suspect Knight and Osborn were keenly interested in 
this animal as Knight was about to embark on a series of watercolor studies 
of South American marsupial carnivores that were reproduced in Scott's _A 
History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere_. If anyone wishes to see 
the Century drawing I can send a jpg. 
       I also wish to make very clear here that Knight seldom, if ever, 
copied photographs as Dann has implied. Knight was a zoo freak. Zookeepers in 
both the US and Europe knew him and he was allowed access behind the scenes 
and after hours. I know of no other artist who drew so much from the living 
animal, if, of course, it was living animals he was depicting. DV