The Age of Reptiles
Encyclopedia
The Age of Reptiles is a 110-foot mural depicting the period of ancient history when reptiles were the dominant creatures on the earth, painted by Rudolph Franz Zallinger. The fresco sits in the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut
, and was completed in 1947 after three years of work. The Age of Reptiles was at one time the largest painting in the world, and depicts a span of nearly 350 million years in Earth's history.
Painted in the Renaissance fresco secco technique, The Age of Reptiles showcases the contemporary view of dinosaurs as slow, sluggish creatures (a view that has been gradually replaced by more active dinosaurs.) Zallinger received the Addison Emery Verrill
medal in 1980 for the mural.
Initially, Zallinger planned on dividing the wall space—measuring 110 feet in length, 55 feet in width, and 26 feet in height— into separate panels. After discussions with his supervisors, Zallinger instead decided on a different concept which would use the entire wall for a "panorama of time". Because Zallinger had never painted dinosaurs, Dr. G. Edward Lewis, the museum's curator of vertebrate paleontology, and Dr. George Wieland proceeded to give Zallinger a six-month crash course in vertebrate paleontology
and paleobotany
.
Zallinger used a Renaissance
-era painting technique known as fresco secco
. Though rarely used due to the difficulties of using egg tempera, fresco secco allowed Zallinger to delineate character, as well as create a painting with good durability.
Devonian
Carboniferous
Permian
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Despite its somewhat outdated view of dinosaurs, The Age of Reptiles is still notable for its historical and artistic merit and as the largest natural history painting in the world. It has been an inspiration to many visitors including both Robert Bakker and Peter Dodson
, who credit it with influencing them to become paleontologists. Dodson was nearly moved to tears upon first seeing it as a college senior.
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, and was completed in 1947 after three years of work. The Age of Reptiles was at one time the largest painting in the world, and depicts a span of nearly 350 million years in Earth's history.
Painted in the Renaissance fresco secco technique, The Age of Reptiles showcases the contemporary view of dinosaurs as slow, sluggish creatures (a view that has been gradually replaced by more active dinosaurs.) Zallinger received the Addison Emery Verrill
Addison Emery Verrill
Addison Emery Verrill was an American zoologist. He was a student of Louis Agassiz at Harvard University and graduated in 1862...
medal in 1980 for the mural.
Background
Zallinger was an art student who in the early 1940s had been painting seaweed drawings for the Peabody museum. Dr. Albert E. Parr, then director of the Peabody Museum, had been unhappy with the appearance of the Great Hall of the museum, which he felt was devoid of color and barren. Parr asked Lewis York, Zallinger's professor at art school, if he knew anyone who would be able to fill a large wall space in the Hall; York recommended Zallinger. On March 1, 1942, Zallinger was officially appointed to the wall-painting project.Initially, Zallinger planned on dividing the wall space—measuring 110 feet in length, 55 feet in width, and 26 feet in height— into separate panels. After discussions with his supervisors, Zallinger instead decided on a different concept which would use the entire wall for a "panorama of time". Because Zallinger had never painted dinosaurs, Dr. G. Edward Lewis, the museum's curator of vertebrate paleontology, and Dr. George Wieland proceeded to give Zallinger a six-month crash course in vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology
Vertebrate paleontology is a large subfield to paleontology seeking to discover the behavior, reproduction and appearance of extinct animals with vertebrae or a notochord, through the study of their fossilized remains...
and paleobotany
Paleobotany
Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany , is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments , and both the evolutionary history of plants, with a...
.
Painting
Zallinger sketched out his plan for the mural on a 10 feet (3 m) sheet of rag paper which could be unrolled to edit individual sections. Due to the position of entrances to the hall, and the sequence of which Peabody's fossils are arranged, the mural "reads" from right to left instead of the customary direction.Zallinger used a Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-era painting technique known as fresco secco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
. Though rarely used due to the difficulties of using egg tempera, fresco secco allowed Zallinger to delineate character, as well as create a painting with good durability.
Composition
In total, The Age of Reptiles spans about 362 million years, from the Devonian period at the mural's beginning to the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago. Each period's length on the mural is proportional to the period's length in geologic time. Each period of time is divided by large trees in the foreground.Species Depicted
Animal species are in bold.Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
- CheirolepisCheirolepisCheirolepis is an extinct genus of ray-finned fish that lived in the Devonian period of Europe and North America. It is the only genus yet known within the family Cheirolepidae and the order Cheirolepiformes...
- EusthenopteronEusthenopteronEusthenopteron is a genus of prehistoric lobe-finned fish which has attained an iconic status from its close relationships to tetrapods. Early depictions of this animal show it emerging onto land, however paleontologists now widely agree that it was a strictly aquatic animal...
- PsaroniusPsaroniusPsaronius was a Marattialean tree fern which grew to 10-15m in height, and is associated with leaves of the organ genus Pecopteris....
- CalamitesCalamitesCalamites is a genus of extinct arborescent horsetails to which the modern horsetails are closely related. Unlike their herbaceous modern cousins, these plants were medium-sized trees, growing to heights of more than 30 meters...
Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
- EogyrinusEogyrinusEogyrinus was one of the largest Carboniferous tetrapods, and perhaps one of the largest of its family, Eogyrinidae, at in length....
- DiplovertebronDiplovertebronDiplovertebron is an extinct genus of Anthracosauria that lived in the Late Carboniferous period . Diplovertebron was a medium-size animal, 60 cm in length....
- MeganeuropsisMeganeuropsis permianaMeganeuropsis is an extinct genus of griffenfly, order Protodonata, known from the Early Permian of North America, and represents the biggest known insect of all times. The genus includes two described species:...
- EryopsEryopsEryops meaning "drawn-out face" because most of its skull was in front of its eyes is a genus of extinct, semi-aquatic amphibian found primarily in the Lower Permian-aged Admiral Formation of Archer County, Texas, but fossils are also found in New Mexico and parts of the eastern United...
- LepidodendronLepidodendronLepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, arborescent plant related to the Lycopsids . It was part of the coal forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over , and the trunks were often over in diameter, and thrived during the Carboniferous period...
- SigillariaSigillariaSigillaria is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent plants which flourished in the Late Carboniferous period but dwindled to extinction in the early Permian period. It was a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses, but even more closely to quillworts, as was its...
Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
- SeymouriaSeymouriaSeymouria was a reptile-like labyrinthodont from the early Permian of North America and Europe . It was small, only 2 ft long...
- LimnoscelisLimnoscelisLimnoscelis is a genus of large, very reptile-like diadectomorph from the Early Permian of North America. Contrary to other diadectomorphans, Limnoscelis appear to have been a carnivore...
- VaranosaurusVaranosaurusVaranosaurus is an extinct genus of early pelycosaur synapsid that lived during the early Permian .As its name implies, Varanosaurus looked very similar to present-day monitor lizards...
- OphiacodonOphiacodonOphiacodon was a large pelycosaur. Its fossils were found in Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada.Ophiacodon was at least two meters in length, and the largest species were up to . It is estimated to have weighed from . The size of the various species increased during the Early Permian epoch until its...
- SphenacodonSphenacodonSphenacodon was a pelycosaur that was about in length. Sphenacodon belongs to the family Sphenacodontidae, a lineage that was related to the therapsids...
- AraeoscelisAraeoscelisAraeoscelis is an extinct genus of reptile, and one of the earliest diapsids. Fossils have been found in the United States, dating from the early Permian period.Araeoscelis was around long, and superficially resembled a modern lizard...
- DimetrodonDimetrodonDimetrodon was a predatory synapsid genus that flourished during the Permian period, living between 280–265 million years ago ....
- EdaphosaurusEdaphosaurusEdaphosaurus is a genus of prehistoric synapsid which lived around 303 to 265 million years ago, during the late Carboniferous to early Permian periods. The name Edaphosaurus means "ground lizard" and is derived from the Greek edaphos/εδαφος and σαυρος/sauros...
- SigillariaSigillariaSigillaria is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent plants which flourished in the Late Carboniferous period but dwindled to extinction in the early Permian period. It was a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses, but even more closely to quillworts, as was its...
- CordaitesCordaitesCordaites is an important genus of extinct gymnosperms which grew on wet ground similar to the Everglades in Florida. Brackish water mussels and crustacea are found frequently between the roots of these trees. The fossils are found in rock sections from the Upper Carboniferous of the Dutch -...
- LepidodendronLepidodendronLepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular, arborescent plant related to the Lycopsids . It was part of the coal forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over , and the trunks were often over in diameter, and thrived during the Carboniferous period...
Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
- SaltoposuchusSaltoposuchusSaltoposuchus is an extinct genus of small , long- tailed crocodylomorph reptile , from the Norian of Europe. The name translated means "leaping crocodile". It has been proposed that Terrestrisuchus gracilis and Saltoposuchus connectens represent different ontogenetic stages of the same genus...
- PlateosaurusPlateosaurusPlateosaurus is a genus of plateosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Triassic period, around 216 to 199 million years ago, in what is now Central and Northern Europe. Plateosaurus is a basal sauropodomorph dinosaur, a so-called "prosauropod"...
- PodokesaurusPodokesaurusPodokesaurus was a small carnivorous dinosaur of the Early Jurassic Period , and as such is one of the earliest known dinosaurs to inhabit the eastern United States . The small, bipedal carnivore was about 90 cm long and 0.3 m tall...
- CynognathusCynognathusCynognathus crateronotus was a meter-long predator of the Early to Middle Triassic. It was among the more mammal-like of the Synapsids, a member of a grouping called Eucynodontia. The genus Cynognathus had an almost worldwide distribution...
- Araucarioxylon
- Bjuvia
- Wielandiella
- Macrotaeniopteris
Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
- CamptosaurusCamptosaurusCamptosaurus is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America. The name means 'flexible lizard', ....
- CompsognathusCompsognathusCompsognathus was a small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 million years ago, the early Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic Period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany...
- AllosaurusAllosaurusAllosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
- ArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryxArchaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
- StegosaurusStegosaurusStegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
- Rhamphorhynchus
- ApatosaurusApatosaurusApatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
- WilliamsoniaWilliamsoniaWilliamsonia is a fossil genus of Bennettitales, an extinct group of seed plants. The plants looked a bit like a cycad, with slender trunks up to two meters tall topped with a crown of leaves....
- Cycadeoidea
- Araucarites
- Matonidium
- Neocalamites
Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
- EdmontosaurusEdmontosaurusEdmontosaurus is a genus of crestless hadrosaurid dinosaur. It contains two species: Edmontosaurus regalis and Edmontosaurus annectens. Fossils of E. regalis have been found in rocks of western North America that date from the late Campanian stage of the Cretaceous Period 73 million years ago,...
- AnkylosaurusAnkylosaurusAnkylosaurus is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur, containing one species, A. magniventris...
- TyrannosaurusTyrannosaurusTyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
- PteranodonPteranodonPteranodon , from the Late Cretaceous geological period of North America in present day Kansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, was one of the largest pterosaur genera and had a maximum wingspan of over...
- CimolestesCimolestesCimolestes is a genus of early eutherians. Fossils have been found in North America, where they first appeared during the Late Cretaceous, and died out during the Paleocene....
- TriceratopsTriceratopsTriceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
- StruthiomimusStruthiomimusStruthiomimus is a genus of ornithomimid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. It was a long-legged, ostrich-like dinosaur.The bipedal Struthiomimus stood about long and tall at the hips and weighed around...
- GinkgoGinkgoGinkgo , also spelled gingko and known as the Maidenhair Tree, is a unique species of tree with no close living relatives...
- Sabalites
- PalmettoPalmetto-Botany:Members of several genera of small palms:*the genus Sabal of the Arecaceae family**Dwarf Palmetto**Sabal palmetto*Saw Palmetto, Serenoa repens*Silver saw palmetto, Acoelorraphe wrightii-Place names:United States...
- PandanusPandanusPandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...
- Araliopsoides
- Cornus
- MagnoliaMagnoliaMagnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
- Dryophyllum
- Salix
Impact
The Age of Reptiles won Zallinger several awards. Zallinger was awarded with a Pulitzer Fellowship in Art in 1949, and the painting was featured as a postage stamp in 1970.Despite its somewhat outdated view of dinosaurs, The Age of Reptiles is still notable for its historical and artistic merit and as the largest natural history painting in the world. It has been an inspiration to many visitors including both Robert Bakker and Peter Dodson
Peter Dodson
Peter Dodson is an American paleontologist who has published many papers and written and collaborated on books about dinosaurs. An authority on Ceratopsians, he has also authored several papers and textbooks on hadrosaurs and sauropods, and is a co-editor of The Dinosauria, widely considered the...
, who credit it with influencing them to become paleontologists. Dodson was nearly moved to tears upon first seeing it as a college senior.
External links
- Age of Reptiles at the Yale Peabody Museum