José Atanasio Echeverría was primarily engaged by the expeditions to Central America and to Nootka, Canada, as an illustrator of newly discovered flora, but he also produced ornithological studies. The barn owl (Tyto alba) pictured here is found in Central and South America but is also widespread in Europe and Africa. It lacks the characteristic upright feathers that resemble ears and has a heart-shaped face. The Mediterranean barn owl has a white belly, in contrast to the American owl's orange one, so the present example could well have been Spanish. The tree in the drawing, a holm oak, would thus be wholly appropriate.

Jens Hoffmann-Samland

Details zu diesem Werk

• Provenienz

  [José Atanasio Echeverría]; Julian Benjamin Williams, Seville (d. 1866); John Wetherell (?) (d. 1865); Horatio/Nathan Wetherell (?) (until 1874); Frederick William Cosens, London (from 1874 to 1890); Sotheby's, London, auction of the property of Frederick William Cosens (from November 11 to 21, 1890); Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London (from November 1890 to July 1891); acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle (July 14, 1891).

• Bibliographie

  The Spanish Gesture. Drawings from Murillo to Goya in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Jens Hoffmann-Samland, with contributions by María Cruz de Carlos Varona, Gabriele Finaldi, José Manuel Matilla u. a., 2014, S. 197, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 36