Animal Illustration: The Essential Reference - by Carol Belanger Grafton (Paperback)

About the Book

Comprehensive and entertaining, this volume presents black-and-white and color images from medieval illuminated manuscripts, woodcuts from the dawn of printing, and illustrations by Merian, Seba, Cuvier, Audubon, and many others. Detailed bibliographies and artist biographies.

Book Synopsis

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 manuscript by the Limbourg brothers and the Renaissance works of Albrecht Dürer and other artists from the first centuries of printing. Subsequent illustrations include the seventeenth-century real and imaginary animals of Matthäus 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-volume Naturalist's Library; bird illustrations by John James Audubon, Alexander Wilson, Edward Lear, and many others; extraordinary butterfly and insect images by E. A. Seguy, as well as animal illustrations from Victorian chromolithograph die 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 this collection a vital reference tool as well as a splendid resource of outstanding animal illustrations. Students of graphic art and illustration, as well as graphic designers and advertising professionals, will prize this treasury of material from many rare historic sources.

About the Author

Graphic artist Carol Belanger Grafton has edited and designed over 250 books for Dover, including titles on Art Nouveau and Art Deco graphics, vintage commercial and advertising art, historic engravings from the 16th through the 20th centuries, old-time postcards and collections of historic paintings, historic fashion illustrations and designs, and many other subjects.