- Joseph Wolf
Joseph Wolf (
January 22 ,1820 -April 20 1899 ) was a Germanartist .Germany
Wolf was the son of a
farmer , and was born atMünstermaifeld , on the riverMoselle , in theEifel region. In his boyhood he was an assiduous student ofbird andanimal life, and showed a remarkable capacity as a draughtsman ofnatural history subjects.At the age of sixteen he went to
Koblenz to work for a firm oflithograph ers, and then in 1840 he moved toFrankfurt . Here he provided the illustrations forEduard Rüppell 's "Birds of Northeast Africa".He next went to
Darmstadt where he worked for the director of the natural history museum,Johann Jakob Kaup . His talent was then recognized byHermann Schlegel of theNatural History Museum, Leiden , who gave him employment as an illustrator.London
In 1848 he moved to
London , where he worked at theBritish Museum illustratingGeorge Robert Gray 's "Genera of Birds". At theRoyal Academy he metSir Edwin Landseer , and he contributed to "Birds of Asia".John Gould admired Wolf and would have liked him on his staff, but Wolf only contributed illustrations on a freelance basis.Achievements
He made many drawings for the
Zoological Society of London , and a very large number of illustrations for books on natural history and on travel in various countries; but he also won a considerable success as a painter.Wolf's main achievement is that he established
wildlife art as agenre .He had the "knack" of capturing moments of suspended action, but combined this with sound physiological knowledge.He was disappointed with some of the
lithograph s of his originals because he felt that they were not very lifelike and overcoloured.He died in London, surrounded by his pet birds.
External links
* [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/library/art/drawingconclusions/more/ayeaye_more_info.htm Biography on the Natural History Museum website]
ee also
*
List of wildlife artists
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