The Public Domain Review

This is just an automatic copy of Public Domain Review blog.

The Bestiarium of Aloys Zötl (1831-1887)

Thursday 16 August 2012 at 17:05

These beautiful watercolours come from the Austrian painter Aloys Zötl’s Bestiarium, a series of exquisite paintings of various animals undertaken from 1831 through until his death in 1887. He was relatively unknown until, decades after his death, his work was “re-discovered” by surrealist André Breton who was taken by the surrealist aesthetic he saw present in the images – as he writes: “Lacking any biographical details about the artist, one can only indulge one’s fantasies in imagining the reasons which might have induced this workman from Upper Austria, a dyer by profession, to undertake so zealously between 1832 and 1887 the elaboration of the most sumptuous bestiary ever seen.” (Wikipedia)

(All images taken from Wikimedia Commons, digitally reproduced by user Rosebud23 from original prints).

The Hoolock Gibbon (1835)



The Siamang Gibbon (1883)



The Gibbon (1833)



The Cheetah (1886)



The Boa Constrictor (1867)



The Quagga (1882)



The Camel (1846)



The Sea Turtle (1867)



The African Elephant (1886)



The Walrus (1879)



The Elk (1886)



The Lioness (1832)



The Striped Hyena (1831)













Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription!

Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2012/08/16/the-bestiarium-of-aloys-zotl-1831-1887/