ANIMAL PORTRAITURE [Illustration] ANIMAL PORTRAITURE BEING FIFTY STUDIES BY WILHELM KUHNERT ACCOMPANIED BY A SERIES OF ORIGINAL ARTICLES BY R. LYDEKKER F.R.S. [Illustration] London FREDERICK WARNE & Cº. & New York (All rights reserved) COPYRIGHT, 1912 BY FREDERICK WARNE & CO. FOREWORD Wilhelm Kuhnert is the greatest animal-painter of our day. There has never been a more excellent colourist or more skilful draughtsman of shape and action; and there is none with a more masterly touch or more unmistakable individuality. There is no misunderstanding his intention. The lifelike likeness of the animal set in its local atmosphere is his predominating endeavour. His range is of the widest, and his subjects all come alike to him; he has no preference for any particular group or family, but draws them all, vertebrate and invertebrate, with power, truth, and sympathy. With a knowledge of the very soul of the animal such as few possess, his pictures are replete with insight into character and its vivid expression, and fascinate even those who may not adequately appreciate their wonderful accuracy. “We who have travelled,” as Mr. G. J. Millais remarks, “do not need to be told that his studies from nature are correct. His lions, elephants, zebras, and antelopes are so real that we feel we are gazing at them on the plains of East Africa. The landscapes are simple but intense; sunlight is there, and the trees and grass are just those that grow in the habitat of these species. Kuhnert has, as it were, got inside the very skin of African life, and draws you insensibly within the charmed circle.” In a gallery his works at once arrest attention by their vigorous realism. There is life within the frame of whatever he paints. He is the Frans Hals of animal portraiture.