The Dodo Blog

Artefact of the month – July from the Zoological Society of London:

Savery’s Dodo in a Landscape with birds and animals by Roelandt Savery, circa 1629

It is thought Savery actually saw the dodo alive, the bird having been brought from its native habitat Mauritius to Prince Maurice of Nassau’s menagerie before it became extinct in the 1690s.

This is one of the few authentic pictures of the bird in life and very unusually Savery has painted a rear view of the bird in this painting.

Several of Savery’s other paintings also include the dodo in more conventional positions from which most later paintings of the dodo are derived. Only a few paintings of the dodo from life are known to exist. A key to the identification of the 21 other birds in the painting, prepared by Peter Olney, is available in the ZSL Library.

The ZSL painting is thought to date from c1629 and exemplifies the range of exotic birds in captivity in Europe in the early-17th century, as at least 18 different species have been identified.

Alice in Wonderland by Peter Ferguson. (via Hugo Strikes Back)

Occasionally the neanderthal would go off and paint. That’s a carved wood dodo bird in the foreground.

Dodo bird as religious icon.

The Dodo bird as religious icon are from the set Jesus Reads to A Neanderthal by Daren Rabinovich (I think) at the Low Gallery, photographed by Christina.

“Wonderland“, a Alice in Wonderland engraving and some etching, by John Anthony Miller.

Dodo statue on The Gerald Durrel Zoo in Jersey, photo taken by Victor Keech.

PCAGOE Sept. Challenge – Pickwick created by Amy. I decided to take my inspiration from Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. Pickwick is the cloned pet dodo of the main character, Thursday. Pickwick is pretty dense, has no wings, and loves marshmallows.

Prize Thimble (2004) from Wonderland series by Polixeni Papapetrou. (via Hugo Strikes Back)

Baiting the Dodo painting from the Parables series by Susan Marie Brundage.

Untitled dodo sculpture created using fimo, wood and wire, by Miguel Branco.

Via openPR, from press release of Sarlay & Jurkowitsch VIP Consulting: Crystallized Dodo – The new piece of Art for Mauritius – Intercontinental Innovation Project.

Silke Jurkowitsch and Alexander Sarlay dedicate their latest innovation project to the national symbol of Mauritius. They realize a special and extraordinary creation of the Dodo, which was driven to extinction in the late 1680s. For this exclusive piece of art Silke Jurkowitsch and Alexander Sarlay use more than 3.000 finest Austrian Crystals each set by hand in a sophisticated way. To get never seen effects they use special developed materials and technologies. The crystallized Dodo fascinates through the combination of brilliance, perfection and destiny of this bird.

Silke Jurkowitsch and Alexander Sarlay also think of distribution options for a limited, exclusive Dodo collection in Mauritius.

They should donate part of the money to animal preservation groups.