Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
A slender bird stands in profile on a rock pointing left with its neck and head turned to face right.

The bird has dark yellow wings, yellow at top of the head with white neck and belly, and black outlines the edge of its closed wing and under its eye. With a closed black beak and eye, it looks behind itself to the right, and has two thin curly feathers that curl up over the back of its head into the upper left corner. Its legs are light brown, long and skinny, with slender claws. The drawing is highly detailed, and the bird fills the frame of the paper and stands against an off-white background.　

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1979.225
People
Maria Sibylla Merian, German (Frankfurt am Main 1647 - 1717 Amsterdam)
Title
A Green Plover
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
17th-18th century
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/295433

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor on vellum
Dimensions
actual: 31 x 25.5 cm (12 3/16 x 10 1/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Philip and Frances L. Hofer, Cambridge, Massachusetts; bequest of Frances L. Hofer, 1979.225

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Frances L. Hofer
Accession Year
1979
Object Number
1979.225
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

  • Eunice Williams, Master Drawings and Watercolors: The Hofer Collection, exh. cat., ed. Konrad Oberhuber and William W. Robinson, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 1984), cat. no. 38, p. 47, repr. p. 116
  • Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, "A Census of Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire, 1540-1680, in North...", Central European History (March 1985), vol. 18, checklist, p. 95
  • Katharina Schmidt-Loske, Die Tierwelt der Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717): Arten, Beschreibungen und Illustrationen, Basilisken-Presse (Marburg, 2007), pp. 110, 146, repr. pl. 71 (color)

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu