SCHLEGEL, ARNZ, A & COMP - bird of prey

A beautiful elephant folio sized coloured lithograph of a bird of prey, taken from the famous book on Falconry Traite de Fauconnerie by Schlegel and A.H. Verster van Wulverhorst. This very beautiful plate is by Joseph Wolf. The plates from this book "are by far the finest ever produced in any book on falconry. It is impossible to describe the mellowness and beauty of the colourings" (Schwerdt).
Wolf is described by Jackson as an "artist who ranks among the world's finest animal painters". "Wolf's success lay in his sketching from life after painstaking study of the anatomy of the animals, and his care to get the structure correct and then paint fur and feather with extraordinary fidelity. But all the marvellous technique and deep knowledge was subservient to his ability to capture a moment in the life of his subject and preserve it in paint.

Archibald Thorburn said of Wolf's pictures, 'There is an indescribable feeling of life and movement attained by no other wildlife artist'" (Jackson). Sir Edwin Landseer went further, describing Wolf as "without exception, the best all-round animal painter that ever lived."