Highlights of Seton Drawings and Paintings
Our Least Beast by Ernest Thompson Seton
ALL #0619 Drawing: Ink Wash, Pen & Ink on paper. Post dated as 1900. 8.3 x 13.1 cm., glued to backing board. Published in By A Thousand Fires (Julie Seton, 1967). Unspecified shrew species.
This finely rendered drawing is dated 1900, a year designation added by Seton some unknown time after the creation of the drawing. This postdating is not unusual for a Seton drawing; for that matter, he often signed works years or decades after creating them. I first thought that “Least Beast” referred to the Least Shrew (Cryptotis parva) but the tail is much too long. Please share this drawing with any Shrew experts you know who might be able to identify it.
I have only once seen a live Shrew. Some species are mildly venomous. The very active creature I held did not bite so I did not find out about that one. As a group, they are among the world’s smallest predator mammals eating lots of insects and other soft-bodied things to support their high metabolism. The body length of the largest Shew is less than 9 cm; most are shorter. Tail length varies by species.
I like the detail in this one making the subject stand out against the out-of-focus vegetative background. This contrast to the animal subject would be termed bokeh if it were a photograph.
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