That is assuming the bird was alive. It could perhaps have been painted from
an imported dead specimen, based on information that the species may already
have been kept as pets in the region it came from.
Crazy suggestion? Maybe - but Audubon had a captive Snowy Owl but decided to
kill it, so that he could set it up in the lifelike pose he wanted, so that
he could paint its portrait.
Philip
-----Original Message-----From: Birding-Aus
On Behalf Of Ed Williams
Sent: Wednesday, 19 March 2014 10:29 AM
To: Bill Stent; Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus]
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo in Renaissance painting
Interesting.
Yellow-crested Cockatoos existed across central Indonesia (and were once
very common) so my guess would be that is what it is (rather than an Aussie
bird). Still it must have been a very tough bird that made it across to
Europe either via one of the "silk roads" or the trade routes round India
and up the Red Sea - journeys that were no mean feat. It should be
remembered that there was a huge amount of trading between the east and the
west during that period but controlled through the Middle East not Europe
(hence Portugal's desire to find an alternative way to get there round
Africa only a couple of years after this painting was said to be painted).
Cheers, Ed
> Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:02:44 +1100 > From: > To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo in Renaissance painting
>
> A colleage has just asked me about this.
>
> I'm stumped. How did a cocky get to Italy in AD 1496?
>
> Any thoughts? Is it a hoax?
>
> Bill
>
> http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/news/aussie-bird-renaissance-artwork-for
> ces-history-rethink
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