Tag Archives: Animals

1808: Portrait of a Horse’s Ass

Henry Raeburn: Portrait of George Harley Drummond (ca. 1808–9); “It is curious…that the animal’s hindquarters should be so prominently displayed” says the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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1932: New Art Saves Strange Beasts

A headline from this article in Popular Science Monthly, January 1932:

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1832: The Destructive Sphinx

Illustrations from The Book of Butterflies, Sphinxes and Moths; illustrated by one hundred and forty-four engravings, coloured after nature; in three volumes (Thomas Brown, 1832-4)                  

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1639: Thoughts

From a letter written by James Howell, 17 March 1639: Having got into a close field, I cast my face upward, and…began to contemplate as I was in this posture the vast magnitude of the universe and what proportion this … Continue reading

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1802: The Eagle

William Blake: Headpiece to “The Eagle,” an illustration for William Hayley’s Ballads Founded on Anecdotes Relating to Animals (1802).

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1953: And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur

Leonora Carrington: And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur (1953)

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1794: The Game of the Snake

Robert Laurie and James Whittle: The Royal Pastime of Cupid, or Entertaining Game of the Snake (London, 1794) The rules: Haveing a pare of dice, it must be first agreed upon, what to play for, which is to be layd … Continue reading

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1921: Swans

Frank William Brangwyn: The Swans (1921)

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1810: A Composite Ox with a Demon Groom

A Composite Ox with a Demon Groom (Oudh, India, ca. 1810-30) (source)

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370 BC: Numberless Democrituses Like Himself

The pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370 BC) believed in an infinite universe, and therefore in an infinite number of worlds. Some might be bigger or smaller than earth, he concluded; some might have more moons or suns, … Continue reading

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