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Lot Essay
Related works: Condors preying on a dead guanaco near the Santa Cruz River, watercolour and gouache, 18.4 x 26.6 cm, Collection of the Dixson Library Sydney
Scen in Patagonia, watercolour, 27.9 x 42.9 cm, Collection of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Charles Darwin's extraordinary accounts of his experiences on the voyage of the H.M.S Beagle remain an unparalleled record of this groundbreaking voyage and his personal account of what he witnessed. Conrad Martens visual accounts of the voyage bring to life the writings of Darwin. In Rio Santa Cruz martens depicts condors coming down to feast on the remains of a guanaco, a large llama that inhabits southern Peru and the eastern regions of Argentina and Tierra del Feugo. Darwin wrote on the 27th of April 1835 of his fascination for the condor and its habits. "These birds generally live by pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the St. Cruz, I found a spot, where scores usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of a precipice, it was a fine sight to see between twenty and thirty of these great birds start heavily from their resting place, and wheel away in majestic circlesIn this part of the country they live altogether on guanacos, which have either died a natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been killed by pumas." (C Darwin The Beagle Record, London, 1979.p.206)
Scen in Patagonia, watercolour, 27.9 x 42.9 cm, Collection of National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Charles Darwin's extraordinary accounts of his experiences on the voyage of the H.M.S Beagle remain an unparalleled record of this groundbreaking voyage and his personal account of what he witnessed. Conrad Martens visual accounts of the voyage bring to life the writings of Darwin. In Rio Santa Cruz martens depicts condors coming down to feast on the remains of a guanaco, a large llama that inhabits southern Peru and the eastern regions of Argentina and Tierra del Feugo. Darwin wrote on the 27th of April 1835 of his fascination for the condor and its habits. "These birds generally live by pairs; but among the inland basaltic cliffs of the St. Cruz, I found a spot, where scores usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of a precipice, it was a fine sight to see between twenty and thirty of these great birds start heavily from their resting place, and wheel away in majestic circlesIn this part of the country they live altogether on guanacos, which have either died a natural death, or, as more commonly happens, have been killed by pumas." (C Darwin The Beagle Record, London, 1979.p.206)