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Artistic impressions of the Dodo
Natural History confirms that the Dodo lived for thousands of years on the island of Mauritius. The bird was finally made extinct before the end of the 1600s by the visitation of Homo Sapiens, and the introduction of various animals such as pigs, deer, cats and dogs, and pests like rats and monkeys. Once the Dodos had disappeared, it was difficult to imagine what they looked like, except for the rare eye-witness accounts and the few sketches, drawings and paintings that existed in museums and private collections.
This set of postage stamps/ souvenir sheet issued by the Mauritius Post Ltd portrays different representations of the Dodo through drawings and paintings of various artists at different times.
Rs5 Journal of the Gelderland, 1601
An important contribution to the early eye-witness accounts of the Dodo are the drawings found in the Journal of Admiral Wolfert Harmenszoon, who commanded the second Dutch fleet of five ships to visit Mauritius in 1601. The flagship of this expedition was the Gelderland which was one of the original ships to call into Mauritius with Vice-Admiral Warwyck in 1598. The Gelderland Journal is particularly valuable as it includes four drawings of living Dodos, and one drawing of a dead one.
Rs10 Adrian Van de Venne, 1626
This pen drawing by Adrian Van de Venne of a rather fat looking Dodo was drawn around 1626, and it can be found in the Library at the University of Utrecht, Holland. It is probable that this image was modelled from a crudely stuffed bird, or even copied from some other artist, which led to exaggerations of one painter to another.
Rs15 Harrison, 1798
This painting appeared in a publication by Harrison, Cluse and Co., of No. 78, Fleet Street, London, in 1798. It seems to have been copied from one of the best known Savery pictures which was presented to the Natural History Museum, London in 1759.
Rs25 J.W. Frohawk, 1905
This chromolithograph by J.W. Frohawk is taken from Lord Walter Rothschild’s Extinct Birds which was published in 1907. The same artist painted a number of pictures for the same publication. Lord Walter Rothschild came from a family of rich bankers but his consuming interest was in ornithology and extinct birds in particular.
Rs25 Souvenir Sheet by Julian Pender Hume
Julian Pender Hume is a Palaeontologist by profession which enables him to bring accuracy to his artistic impressions of extinct animals. His painting showing a reconstruction of endemic fauna of Mauritius has been reproduced on the Souvenir Sheet.
First Day Cover Illustration
The illustration on the First Day Cover is a reproduction of the Dodo’s head from a bronze statue situated at Ile aux Aigrettes
Technical Details
Designer: Nurveen Ratty
Printer: Cartor Security Printing Ltd
Size: 34.5 x 30 mm
Perforation : 14 x 2
Gum : PVA
Paper : CA Spiral Watermarked
Sheet format : 50 stamps set in two panes of 25
Release date :25 June 2007
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