Twenty four portraits of animals: Three lions; Two bears; A stag; A doe; A horse; A donkey; Two bulls; Two foxes; Another with two foxes heads; Three full-length hunting dogs standing in profile; Three hunting dogs; A cat; A falcon; and Two cockerells

Details

Twenty four portraits of animals: Three lions; Two bears; A stag; A doe; A horse; A donkey; Two bulls; Two foxes; Another with two foxes heads; Three full-length hunting dogs standing in profile; Three hunting dogs; A cat; A falcon; and Two cockerells
black chalk, the cat and one head of a dog in pen and brown ink, watermark Bishop's coat-of-arms, each en suite in contemporary mounts
8 x 10¾ in. (202 x 272 mm.) and smaller (24)

Engraved

In reverse by the artist, for his Têtes de différents animaux dessinées d'après nature pour donner une idée plus exacte de leurs caractères, Naples, 1796 (Andresen 111-123)

Lot Essay

This series of drawings was prepared by Tischbein for the publication of his Têtes de différents animaux..., an explanation of his theories of animal physiognomy. The present lot includes a number of images not included in Andresen's list of sixteen plates. The reappearance of these drawings, and the evidence of a group of engravings not included by Andresen now in the British Museum (see lots 132 and 170) to which many of the drawings relate, suggests that like many of Tischbein's plans the project was abandoned it met his grand ambition.

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