Walter Linsenmaier – Original Bird Study featuring a Maleo of Sulawesi

Two birds of Indonesia by Walter Linsenmaier

(1917 Stuttgart – 2000 Ebikon)

A finely executed original natural-history drawing by Swiss artist and entomologist Walter Linsenmaier featuring a Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo), the remarkable and highly distinctive bird endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

Linsenmaier captures the Maleo’s unmistakable appearance with considerable precision: its black upper plumage, soft salmon-pink underparts, bare facial skin and, most characteristically, the prominent dark casque or helmet rising from its head. A much smaller brown and yellow bird perched above has not been identified, but is likely another bird native to the same region.

The Maleo is one of the more unusual members of the megapode family. Rather than incubating its eggs in a conventional nest, it buries its exceptionally large eggs in warm sand or geothermally heated soil, where natural heat provides the incubation. The newly hatched chicks dig their way to the surface and are able to fly and unusually independent from the outset.

Linsenmaier renders the birds with the meticulous attention to natural detail characteristic of his work, carefully modelling individual feathers and subtle gradations of colour. The softly worked blue background and lightly indicated vegetation keep the emphasis firmly on the birds.

Walter Linsenmaier (1917–2000) was a Swiss natural-history artist, illustrator and internationally respected entomologist. His artistic and scientific careers were closely intertwined. In addition to his extensive illustrations of birds, mammals and insects, he became a leading authority on cuckoo wasps (Chrysididae), describing hundreds of species and subspecies. His work is distinguished by the combination of close scientific observation with exceptionally refined draughtsmanship.

Medium: Original mixed-media drawing in coloured chalks/pastel on paper, monogrammed by the artist.

17.5 x 14 cm