Re: [toni.naish@btinternet.com: Restoring Phorusrhacos]

[Danvarner@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/16/2005 8:10:58 AM Eastern  Standard Time, 
mike@miketaylor.org.uk relays from distracted Darren:
<<  ...but
there's definitely a tradition of 'doing a Burian' and making the  bird
distinctly black and white, and red-cered, simply because that's how  Burian
depicted it. >>
I'm quibbling, I know, however in the interest of history this was not the 
first  time Burian painted Phorusrhacos. The painting you speak of was, I 
suspect,  painted in the 1960's and a detail of it was published in _Life 
Before 
Man_, in  1972. Here's the entire painting with signature and date 
unfortunately  
cropped:
http://www.petr-hejna.cz/BURIAN/026.JPG

Burian's first published (that I know of) painting of Phorusrhacos was plate 
40  in _Prehistoric Animals_, by Augusta and Burian, published in 1956.  
Unfortunately, I cannot direct you to an image on the web. It is a striking  
monochrome painting and, yes, Burian looked at Knight's drawing because the  
unfortunate mythical creature in the bird's talons is nearly identical to  
Knight's. 
This painting from 1941 did indeed shift the paradigm away from  Knight's 
drawing. In fact this was firmly cemented by Ray Harryhausen using  essentially 
Burian's design as an animation model in "Mysterious Island"(a  beautiful 
detail 
being having the model rigged so the crest would elevate,  showing  
aggitation):

http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/mysterious/images/00000015.jpg
and
http://www.theseventhvoyage.com/phororhacos.htm

But  prior to _Prehistoric Animals_ Knight was the go-to image for many 
years.  Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember that. An excellent example 
would 
be  the late Bill Scheele's drawing in his great book titled, of all things,  
_Prehistoric Animals_.
Funny Darren should mention Maurice  Wilson as I was thinking of him also. 
His work was absolutely original. It  seemed as if he never looked at anyone 
else's art. Hopefully, someday his art  will be rediscovered and fully 
appreciated. DV