STL Science Center

STL Science Center

21 March 2015

Thanking Charles Knight

©Charles R. Knight
Usually whenever I post the artwork of Charles R. Knight it is to make a point of how much the artistic interpretation and scientific opinion of dinosaurs has changed his turn of the century artwork became popular and extensively used in museums and scientific works. In some organisms, however, the work of Charles R. Knight persists in its validity remotely at the very least. The wide winged bodies of eurypterids have changed so little in our interpretations that the illustrations of Knight remain quite true to the form of the creatures. For the most part, eurypterids of all sizes appear to resemble scorpions superficially, hence the common moniker of "sea scorpions" and Knight has captured this shape wonderfully and for all time. More modern illustrations, which we shall see, do exist and are equally wonderful if not better in some regards, but , as I tend to do, I am rather happy with the anachronistic illustrations of the early 20th or late 19th centuries.

No comments:

Post a Comment