{"product_id":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer","title":"White Birch Leaf Edge Caterpillar, Study For Book Concealing Coloration In The Animal Kingdom 2 By Abbott Handerson Thayer","description":"\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eMuseum-Quality Giclée Prints\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eOur giclée prints are crafted using archival pigment inks that resist fading and faithfully preserve the original tonalities and hues of the artwork.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eNo Watermarks or Branding\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eYour print will arrive free of any watermarks or branding—just the art, exactly as intended.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eSizing \u0026amp; Framing Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eUnframed Matte Paper Prints:\u003c\/em\u003e Delivered in the exact dimensions of the artwork on 280 gsm Artist Paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eStretched Canvas:\u003c\/em\u003e Ready to hang with neatly finished edges and solid wood support.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eFramed Prints:\u003c\/em\u003e Professionally mounted in a premium wood frame with backing and wire installed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eFast, Free Shipping\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eFree shipping in the USA and UK. Art Studio Based in USA - Washington. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eUK orders include fast delivery with no customs fees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eSatisfaction Guaranteed\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eEnjoy peace of mind with our 30-day money-back guarantee. With over 15 years of experience in curating and reproducing fine art, we’re committed to exceptional craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003eCustomer Reviews\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e(Verified Buyers)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ \u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\"Love it! Arrived quickly.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ \u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\"Lovely painting and details are clear.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ \u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\"Great work on our Renoir.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ \u003cem data-end=\"\" data-start=\"\"\u003e\"Exceptional quality print.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-content-region=\"\" product_below_title--global\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"trulyart-content\"\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout this work\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- The work is held at the **Smithsonian American Art Museum** (accession no. 1950.2.26B), gifted by the heirs of Abbott Handerson Thayer.\n- It is a **watercolor**, dated **late 19th–early 20th century**.\n- It depicts a caterpillar whose markings and form mimic the edge of a white birch leaf — a study in natural camouflage (leaf-edge mimicry).\n- It was made as a preparatory study for the book *Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom*, published in **1909** (with Gerald H. Thayer listed as author\/compiler, based on Abbott's discoveries).\n- The broader series of caterpillar studies in this project explored countershading and mimicry; the book was illustrated by Abbott, Gerald, Emma Beach Thayer, Richard S. Meryman, Rockwell Kent, and others.\n- Thayer considered this scientific work — which he called his \"second child\" — a direct extension of his artist's trained eye, arguing that perceiving camouflage was fundamentally an artistic act.\n- Thayer later lobbied Allied powers to adopt military camouflage based on these theories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe elongated vertical format of this watercolor —\n320 × 1,400 pixels in the Smithsonian's digitized version\n, suggesting a tall, narrow composition — tells you something immediately about its subject: a caterpillar rendered at close range against the serrated silhouette of a white birch leaf, the creature's body aligned with the leaf's edge as if it and the foliage are a single, continuous form. The palette is precisely keyed to its argument — pale greens, creamy whites, and the translucent ivory of birch tissue, with the caterpillar's markings dissolving into leaf veins and shadow in a way that makes the eye work to find the animal at all. This is scientific illustration as visual puzzle, and the watercolor medium is perfectly chosen: its washes of color can be layered to near-transparency, replicating the exact quality of light through a leaf that the caterpillar exploits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work dates to the late 19th to early 20th century\nand belongs to a major body of preparatory material assembled for what Thayer called his \"second child\" — the theoretical treatise on natural camouflage.\nThayer's 1909 book *Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom*, completed by his son Gerald H. Thayer, argued for the widespread use of crypsis among animals and in particular described and explained countershading for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book was illustrated by Abbott H. Thayer, Gerald H. Thayer, Richard S. Meryman, and others including Emma B. Thayer and Rockwell Kent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThayer came to believe that this theory belonged to artists, with their trained perception: \"The whole basis of picture making consists in contrasting against its background every object in the picture,\" he argued.\nThe caterpillar studies, including this one, were among the most technically demanding illustrations in the project — requiring the painter\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout Abbott Handerson Thayer\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFew American painters lived a stranger double life. By day, he was the late-nineteenth-century portraitist who turned his own daughters into winged, white-robed figures of quiet devotion, working in a soft tonal style that drew comparison to the Italian Renaissance. By night, he was an obsessive naturalist whose 1909 book on protective coloration in animals essentially invented the science of camouflage, later shaping military uniform design in both World Wars.\n\nBorn in 1849 and trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Thayer brought a peculiar reverence to his sitters. His paintings still feel modern in their stillness, their refusal to perform.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Abbott Handerson Thayer","offers":[{"title":"24\" x 18\" \/ Stretched Canvas","offer_id":41535762071639,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_24x18_-StretchedCanvas","price":170.81,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24\" x 18\" \/ Fine Art Paper","offer_id":41535762104407,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_24x18_-FineArtPaper","price":111.96,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24\" x 18\" \/ Antiqua Frame","offer_id":41535762137175,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_24x18_-AntiquaFrame","price":213.87,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24\" x 18\" \/ Hickory Frame","offer_id":41535762169943,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_24x18_-HickoryFrame","price":213.87,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"24\" x 18\" \/ Raven Frame","offer_id":41535762202711,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_24x18_-RavenFrame","price":213.87,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"36\" x 24\" \/ Stretched Canvas","offer_id":41535762268247,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_36x24_-StretchedCanvas","price":285.64,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"36\" x 24\" \/ Fine Art Paper","offer_id":41535762301015,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_36x24_-FineArtPaper","price":170.81,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"36\" x 24\" \/ Antiqua Frame","offer_id":41535762333783,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_36x24_-AntiquaFrame","price":357.41,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"36\" x 24\" \/ Hickory Frame","offer_id":41535762366551,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_36x24_-HickoryFrame","price":357.41,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"48\" x 36\" \/ Stretched Canvas","offer_id":41535762530391,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_48x36_-StretchedCanvas","price":572.71,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"48\" x 36\" \/ Antiqua Frame","offer_id":41535762563159,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_48x36_-AntiquaFrame","price":716.25,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true},{"title":"48\" x 36\" \/ Hickory Frame","offer_id":41535762595927,"sku":"white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer-_48x36_-HickoryFrame","price":716.25,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2536\/4678\/products\/fine-art-print-white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-by-abbott-handerson-thayer-1171175165.jpg?v=1749563762","url":"https:\/\/trulyart.com\/en-ca\/products\/white-birch-leaf-edge-caterpillar-study-for-book-concealing-coloration-in-the-animal-kingdom-2-abbott-handerson-thayer","provider":"Truly Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}