Black Stork in a Landscape

Black Stork in a Landscape
Artist	Unknown
Year	c. 1780
Medium	Watercolor on paper
Dimensions	54.6 cm× 75.6 cm(21.5 in× 29.8 in)
Location	Metropolitan Museum of Art

Black Stork in a Landscape is a late 18th-century watercolor painting of a woolly-necked stork, painted in India for a Western patron. The painting, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was done in watercolor on European paper, by an unknown Indian artist, in what is known as the Company style. These were paintings by Indian artists for a Western market; many showed the fauna of India.

The work is traceable to a series of 658 ornithological paintings of birds that the French-born Major-General Claude Martin commissioned for his private collection. ^{[1] [2]}

Description

The painting depicts a Woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus), a large wading bird that includes the Indian subcontinent in its range. ^[3]

The way in which the painting is executed implies that the anonymous author was familiar with the Woolly-necked stork; notably, the stork is shown to be crossing its right foot over its left, the standard posture of a stork. ^[2]

References

1. "Bird Studies from the Claude Martin Collection, Lucknow, India, circa 1775-1785" (PDF). 2007-09-27. p. 52. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
2. "Black Stork in a Landscape". The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 1780. Retrieved 2018-05-25.
3. Hancock, James A.; Kushlan, James A.; Kahl, M. Philip (1992). Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World. London, U.K.: Academic Press. pp. 81–86. ISBN   0-12-322730-5.