566
During the last 100 years of its much beleaguered persevering, live specimens
were brought back to Europe, India, possibly Japan, according to Fuller,
47
who
cites much data based upon all the prolific evidence, tattered remains, and life-like
portraiture by at least 8 Renaissance painters, including Savery, Gillis Claesz
D’Hondecoeter, Adrian van der Venne, Joris Hoefnaegel, Ustad Mansur of the
court of the Moghul Emperor Jahangir,
48
Cornelius Saftleven and T. and J. J. de
Bry.
49
Erol Fuller’s research on extinct birds, in the tradition of Walter Rothschild,
is among the most extensive of any naturalist, and it is little surprise, then, that he
refers to the Dodo (the national bird of the Mauritius, ironically) as “one of the
most fantastic birds ever to have lived.” His chronicle of haphazard comments
about this bird included a “shape and rareness [that] may antagonize the Phoenix
47 ibid., p. 200.
48 See “Dodos in Mughal court,” by Onu Tareq, September 15, 2019, in which is discussed a report
of “two Dodos brought to the city of Surat (Gujarat)” by sailors between 1628 and 1633. The
Business Standard, https://tbsnews.net/feature/travel/dodos-mughal-court, Accessed April 22,
2020.
49 The De Bry collection of voyages (1590–1634): editorial strategy and the representations of the
overseas world, Michiel van Groesen, The University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2007, https://
pure.uva.nl/ws/files/3960216/47113_Groesen_compleet.pdf.
Fig. 59.6 The Dodo, Illustrated by Frederick William Frohawk, Plate 24 of Lord Walter
Rothschild’s Extinct Birds, A. Chris Fowler, Printer, London, 1907. “… taken from the picture by
Roelandt Savery in Berlin, but the wings, tail and bill have been altered, partly from Pierre
Withoos’ picture of the Bourbon Dodo, and partly from anatomical examination.” p. 174. (Private
Collection). (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
59 Savery’s Castle of Secrets
During the last 100 years of its much beleaguered persevering, live specimens
were brought back to Europe, India, possibly Japan, according to Fuller,
47
who
cites much data based upon all the prolific evidence, tattered remains, and life-like
portraiture by at least 8 Renaissance painters, including Savery, Gillis Claesz
D’Hondecoeter, Adrian van der Venne, Joris Hoefnaegel, Ustad Mansur of the
court of the Moghul Emperor Jahangir,
48
Cornelius Saftleven and T. and J. J. de
Bry.
49
Erol Fuller’s research on extinct birds, in the tradition of Walter Rothschild,
is among the most extensive of any naturalist, and it is little surprise, then, that he
refers to the Dodo (the national bird of the Mauritius, ironically) as “one of the
most fantastic birds ever to have lived.” His chronicle of haphazard comments
about this bird included a “shape and rareness [that] may antagonize the Phoenix
47 ibid., p. 200.
48 See “Dodos in Mughal court,” by Onu Tareq, September 15, 2019, in which is discussed a report
of “two Dodos brought to the city of Surat (Gujarat)” by sailors between 1628 and 1633. The
Business Standard, https://tbsnews.net/feature/travel/dodos-mughal-court, Accessed April 22,
2020.
49 The De Bry collection of voyages (1590–1634): editorial strategy and the representations of the
overseas world, Michiel van Groesen, The University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2007, https://
pure.uva.nl/ws/files/3960216/47113_Groesen_compleet.pdf.
Fig. 59.6 The Dodo, Illustrated by Frederick William Frohawk, Plate 24 of Lord Walter
Rothschild’s Extinct Birds, A. Chris Fowler, Printer, London, 1907. “… taken from the picture by
Roelandt Savery in Berlin, but the wings, tail and bill have been altered, partly from Pierre
Withoos’ picture of the Bourbon Dodo, and partly from anatomical examination.” p. 174. (Private
Collection). (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
59 Savery’s Castle of Secrets