Rana Aurora
2009
India ink and acrylic on paper
4" x 6"
(sold)
This painting shows stylized images of a species of frog native to California. In English it is called a Red-Legged Frog. The scientists who first described this frog in the 1800s gave it the Latin name Rana aurora, meaning "dawn frog". I was charmed by the idea that these Victorian gentlemen might have chosen the name as an allusion to the "rosy-fingered Dawn" of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
This painting shows stylized images of a species of frog native to California. In English it is called a Red-Legged Frog. The scientists who first described this frog in the 1800s gave it the Latin name Rana aurora, meaning "dawn frog". I was charmed by the idea that these Victorian gentlemen might have chosen the name as an allusion to the "rosy-fingered Dawn" of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
