Sun Bird

Sun Bird

Max Rosenthal, 23 Nov 1833 - 8 Aug 1918 Henry Louis Stephens, 1824 - 1882 (after)

Details

Dimensions
Sheet: 27 × 17.5 cm (10 5/8 × 6 7/8"); Book (closed): 28.1 × 19.8 × 3.5 cm (11 1/16 × 7 13/16 × 1 3/8"); Book (opened): 28.1 × 41.2 cm (11 1/16 × 16 1/4")
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Art Genome Taxonomy

9 tags

Subject Matter

  • Animals Both · 99%

    A bird is the dominant nonhuman form, with visible wings, tail feathers, and a perched position; the catalog lists Bird among the subjects.

  • The image visibly combines a human head and clothed torso with avian wings and tail, forming a fanciful human-animal hybrid.

  • Portrait Both · 96%

    The frontal human face and upper body are presented as a character-like portrait, and Portrait is included in the catalog subjects.

  • The incongruous human-bird combination and exaggerated presentation are visibly comic, while the catalog explicitly classifies the subject as Caricature.

  • Flora Both · 98%

    Flowering branches and clustered blossoms are prominent visual elements, and the catalog lists a tree branch under Plant.

  • Text Visual · 99%

    The words “SUN BIRD.” are clearly printed beneath the image.

Medium and Techniques

  • Lithograph Metadata · 99%

    The catalog identifies the medium as color lithograph.

Time Periods

  • 19th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The work is dated 1851, placing it within nineteenth-century art.

Materials

  • Use of Paper Metadata · 86%

    The catalog describes the object as a sheet and records it as part of a book; a paper support is therefore strongly indicated, though the supplied medium field does not explicitly state paper.

Source & rights

Max Rosenthal, 23 Nov 1833 - 8 Aug 1918. Sun Bird. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.