Duria Antiquior

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Duria Antiquior – A more Ancient Dorset is a watercolour painted in 1830 by the geologist Henry De la Beche based on fossils found by Mary Anning, and was the first pictorial representation of a scene from deep time based on fossil evidence.

Duria Antiquior, a more ancient Dorset, was the first pictorial representation of a scene of prehistoric life based on evidence from fossil reconstructions, a genre now known as paleoart.

The first version was a

lithographic
prints based on the painting, which he sold to friends to raise money for Anning's benefit.

It was the first depiction of a scene from deep time to see even limited publication. The print was used for educational purposes and widely circulated in scientific circles; it influenced several other such depictions that began to appear in scientific and popular literature. Several later versions were produced.

Origins

The lithographic print made by Georg Scharf based on De la Beche's original watercolour.

By 1830 Mary Anning was well known to the leading British geologists and fossil collectors for her ability to spot important fossils in the

Lias food chain. It was this description that motivated the geologist Henry De la Beche, who had worked with Conybeare describing the marine reptile fossils, to create a pictorial representation of life in ancient Dorset.[2]

Despite her renown in geological circles, in 1830 Anning was having financial difficulties due to hard economic times in Britain, and the long and unpredictable intervals between major fossil finds. Impressed by the positive reaction from his friends to his initial watercolour painting, De la Beche decided to assist Anning by having the professional illustrator Georg Scharf, who had earlier done lithographs of Conybeare's sketches of plesiosaur and ichthyosaur skeletons, create a lithographic print based on his original. He then sold copies of the print to friends and colleagues at the price of £2 10s each and donated the proceeds to Anning.[2][3]

Prior to Duria Antiquior

hyaenas in honour of his well-known analysis of the excavation at Kirkdale Cave, but Duria Antiquior was the first depiction of a scene from deep time showing a variety of prehistoric creatures interacting with one another and their environment based on fossil evidence.[3]

Composition

Many of the creatures are depicted in violent interaction. The central figures are a large ichthyosaur biting into the long neck of a plesiosaur. Another plesiosaur is seen trying to surprise a crocodile on the shore, and yet another is using its long neck to seize a

ammonite represented as a floating creature along the lines of a paper nautilus. There are also more recognizable empty ammonite shells on the sea bottom, and some stalked crinoids (sea lilies), of which some very finely preserved fossils had been found at Lyme Regis, are depicted in the lower right corner. One of the features of the painting that has most struck historians is the split level view that shows action above and below the surface of the water.[3] This is known as an aquarium view, and Duria Antiquior is the first known example; the style would not become common until the Victorian aquarium craze a couple of decades later.[6]

Circulation, use and influence

The prints proved quite popular, and at some point the lithograph was redrawn and a larger run printed; in some of the later versions the figures were numbered. William Buckland kept a supply of the prints on hand and circulated them at his geology lectures. Copies were soon sent to geologists outside Britain, including Cuvier in France.[2][3][7] In Berlin, Leopold von Buch, presented the lithograph on 4 February 1831 to an audience, praised the then recent developments in British Geology and raised new questions about the processes of geohistorical change.[8]

A print also apparently reached

Penny Magazine, and another illustration which borrowed elements from Duria Antiquior appeared in a French illustrated dictionary of natural history in 1834.[9] Such scenes from deep time vividly illustrated advances in palaeontology, and helped convince scholars and even the general public that the deep past could be understood with a reasonable degree of confidence.[10]

Later versions

The large oil on canvas painted by Robert Farren circa 1850 based on earlier versions by De la Beche and Scharf.

The Swiss professor of geology

David Ward to produce an updated version of the scene that reflected modern scientific knowledge of the creatures depicted.[13] In Lyme Regis Museum there is a large three-dimensional diorama based on Duria Antiquior, created by artist Darrell Wakelam in partnership with local children.[14]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ McGowan 2001 pp. 9–24, 67–75
  2. ^ a b c d Rudwick 2008 pp. 154–158
  3. ^ a b c d Rudwick 1992 pp. 42–47
  4. ^ McGowan 2001 p. 74
  5. ^ "These long-necked reptiles were decapitated by their predators, fossil evidence confirms". ScienceDaily. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  6. S2CID 144264275
    .
  7. ^ Gordon 1894 pp. 116–118
  8. ^ "Remarks on a scene, depicting the primeval world – A talk given by Leopold von Buch in 1831, popularizing the Duria antiquior". Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  9. ^ Rudwick 1992 pp. 51–63
  10. ^ Rudwick 2008 p. 159
  11. ^ Rudwick 1992 pp. 88–90
  12. ^ "Life in the Jurassic Seas". The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
  13. ^ "12th European Workshop of Vertebrate Palaeontology Abstracts" (PDF). European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists. 15 May 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2009.[dead link]
  14. ^ "Mary Anning and the men of science". Lyme Regis Museum. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011.

References

External links
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