Animal Illustration

Comprehensive and entertaining, this volume comprises the greatest works in animal illustration from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century. The chronological presentation of hundreds of black-and-white and color images begins with a medieval illuminated manuscriptby theLimbourg brothers and the Renaissance works of Albrecht Durer and other artists from the first centuries of printing. Subsequent illustrations include the seventeenth-century real and imaginary animals of Matthaus Merian and the unique eighteenth-century compilations of Albertus Seba. Nineteenth-century images are drawn from sources as diverse as J. G. Heck's Bilder Atlas; the prints of Georges Baron Cuvier; William Jardine's 40-volumeNaturalist's Library; bird illustrations by John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, Edward Lear, and many others;extraordinary butterflyand insect images by E. A. Seguy, as well asanimal illustrations fromVictorian chromolithographdie cuts. The exquisite Edwardian bestiary of the Detmold brothers brings the collection into the twentieth century, and ends with the imagery of contemporary dinosaur artist James Gurney.

Detailed bibliographical information concerning every source including biographical details of each artist makes thiscollection a vital reference tool as well as a splendid resource of outstanding animal illustrations. Students of graphic artand illustration, as well as graphic designers and advertising professionals, will prize this treasury of material from many rare historic sources."