Wildlife and Floral Art

WILDLIFE AND FLORAL ART

As “art”, the paintings of flowers and animals are generally considered of secondary importance in comparison to the more intellectual ideas that influence religious or historical paintings and they generally lack the psychology found in good portraiture. Both styles are known more for their pleasant qualities, such as skillful reproduction of nature, a charming vision, a pleasant choice of subject and the ties to ownership, whether the subject was a dog, a horse or a cutting of roses. Still, paintings of flowers, plants, wildlife or domesticated animals are important as paintings and as a visual alternative to the more dynamic forms of art.

Wildlife art can be seen in cave paintings around the world and animals can be considered one of the earliest subjects to be painted. Both plants and animals were complimentary to other artistic styles asthey were developing in the late Middle Ages and they can be found in some form in all the major styles of paintings. Wildlife, dead or alive, was a common subject in northern European art. In particular, Albrecht Durer left prints of animals with his etching of a hare being among the more renowned. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Lady With An Ermine and Peiro Di Cosimo’s The Forest Fire are among the better known Renaissance paintings that include animals.

While animals only appear periodically in Renaissance paintings, many of the early Old Masters left sketches and studies of animals and the anatomical knowledge and technical skill needed to paint an animal raises the paintings above sheer novelty. As the rich and the powerful competed for an artist’s skills, the pets, hunting animals, riding horses and caged creatures that they owned appeared in their paintings with them. A man painted in his hunting costume with his horse and dogs at his side suggested a vitality and masculinity that everyone understood.

At about the same time, the art of technical drawing in the name of science greatly enhanced the reputation of animals and plants in artwork. The sense of detail and reality that was brought to wildlife and flowers helped create a body of scientific illustrations complimentary to the science books they sometimes illustrated.

In the 20th century, animals and flowers as subject matter dwindled as modern art chose to distance itself from the traditional subjects and styles of painting but a niche market of both flowers and wildlife appeared with collectors eager to buy these styles, despite the modernist trends. While famed wildlife artists like Robert Bateman were able to make careers out of wildlife art, British conceptual artist Damien Hurst used animals as science projects in his provocative conceptual ideas, including the infamous stuffed shark.

While floral art is even more obscure than wildlife art in the eyes of the viewing public, there are many regional artists known for their floral work and, although the form is considered sentimental, there are still collectors who appreciate the style and support the artists who produce them.

Other works of Fine Art you may enjoy:

The Connections Of Mary Cassatt

Bend In the River, an oil painting

Silence In the City, a cityscape painting