Art History Animalia

Last one for #InternationalZebraDay: every known example of zebras in ancient mosaics, all Byzantine 5th-6th centuries (if anyone knows of any others please share!!)

1. Diakonikon-Baptistery, Mount Zebo, Jordan 530 CE 2. Villa of the Amazons, Edessa (Urfa), Turkey 5th-6th c. 3. Gaza Synagogue, Palestine 6th c. 4. Western portico of the Byzantine Agora, Bet She'an National Park, Israel 6th c. 5. Delphi Church, Greece 5th-6th c. (ok this one is the iffiest of the bunch but I do think it was an attempt at a zebra LOL)

More for #InternationalZebraDay:

Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) Grevy’s Zebra, 1983 one of ten prints from the Endangered Animals series, signed and numbered edition of 150 38″ x 38″ Screenprint on Lenox Museum Board

Grevy's Zebra (Equus grevyi) is still statused as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is the most threatened of the three zebra species; it's also the largest living wild equid.

Resharing my favorite Morris Hirshfield painting from the recent American Folk Art Museum exhibition for #InternationalZebraDay:

Morris Hirshfield (Polish-American, 1872-1946) Zebra Family, 1942 oil on canvas private collection

PS - reminder that Hirshfield was a self-taught artist who didn't start painting until age 65...and then made amazing art like this!

More for #InternationalZebraDay:

Luis Paret Y Alcazar (Spanish, 1746-1799) Zebra, 1774 oil on canvas Museo del Prado

From the menagerie of Infante Luis of Spain; identifiable as a Plains Zebra (Equus quagga).

“Infante Luis Antonio Jaime de Borbón, younger brother of Carlos III, was a great fan of the natural sciences, and created a cabinet [of curiosities] in which various animals were preserved. In addition…he possessed a live zebra, an exceptional animal in Europe at the time, which was later stuffed…that this animal was liked by the Infante is confirmed by Paret's commission for this illustration, rendered halfway between portrait and scientific drawing typical of the second half of the 18th century."

More for #InternationalZebraDay:

Zebras by African TingaTinga artist Steven Mkumba (Makonde, b. 1965). Both oil/acrylic/ink on canvas, made in Tanzania in association with the Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society.

1. Mkumba's Zebra, 2020 https://tingatingaart.com/products/mkumbas-zebra

2. Stripes and Pride, 2019 https://tingatingaart.com/products/stripes-and-pride

More about the TingaTinga school of art here.

More for #InternationalZebraDay: Victor Vasarely (Hungarian, 1906-1997), Zebras, 1937 and 1938 versions. Vasarely was a pioneer of modern "Op Art" (this is considered one of the very first works of the genre) and he returned to the zebra motif often throughout his career.

More for #InternationalZebraDay: Detail from p.189 of the sole known surviving copy of Yi yu tu zhi, c. 1430, from Ming Dynasty China, depicting a zebra (identifiable as a Plains Zebra, Equus quagga) being led by a keeper. [Cambridge Digital Library]

This illustration records what was probably the first zebra seen in China ; it was brought back from Admiral Zheng He's voyage to East Africa (one of the "Ming Treasure Voyages") and presented to the Ming emperor, along with a giraffe and an oryx (also probably the first of each seen in China).

More for #InternationalZebraDay: Ustad Mansur (fl. 1590-1624) Zebra, 1621 painting, opaque watercolour and gold on paper Mughal Empire (India) Victoria and Albert Museum

"presented to the Mughal emperor Jahangir by Mir Ja'far who had acquired it from Turks travelling to the Mughal empire from Ethopia"

Previously identified as a Burchell's Zebra (Equus quagga burchelli).

More for #InternationalZebraDay: zebras in a Byzantine Greek illuminated manuscript of the Book of Job, c. 1362. BnF Grec 135, f. 100r and 224r.

Happy #InternationalZebraDay! Here are a 1751 George Edwards illustration and a 1763 George Stubbs painting depicting the first zebras seen in Britain: a now extinct Quagga (Equus quagga quagga), and a rare Cape Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra zebra), which also was almost driven to extinction but has thankfully since recovered.

1. The Female Zebra George Edwards (English, 1694-1773) hand-colored copper-plate engraving dated 1751 published in Edwards’ Gleanings of Natural History Pt. 1 in 1758 as Plate 223Wellcome Collection

2. Zebra, 1763 George Stubbs (English, 1724–1806) oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art

More on the blog: https://arthistoryanimalia.com/2023/01/31/animal-art-of-the-day-for-international-zebra-day-1-george-edwards-george-stubbs-and-the-first-british-zebras/