The Land-crab (Cancer ruricola)

published 1731-1743

Mark Catesby

Associated Names
Mark Catesby

Artist, English, 1679 - 1749

This is a painting of a crab entangled with a plant. The detailed illustration shows a terrestrial crab with a robust, brownish-orange shell and red legs. The crab is depicted with two prominent claws, one of which is notably larger than the other. Surrounding the crab, delicate branches and leaves are intertwined with its limbs, featuring elongated, oval fruits or seeds hanging from the plant. The meticulous linework and shading give the image a lifelike quality. This is in the style of scientific illustrations or natural history art commonly seen in works by artists like Maria Sibylla Merian or Georg Dionysius Ehret.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching and engraving with hand coloring on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Dr. and Mrs. George Benjamin Green

  • Dimensions

    plate: 25.7 x 35.4 cm (10 1/8 x 13 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 35.7 x 53 cm (14 1/16 x 20 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.163.46

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Natural History, Vol. vol.2, no. 32

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. and Mrs. George Benjamin Green, Virginia; gift to NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1771

  • Catesby, Mark. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. London: 1771.

Inscriptions

lower left in plate: MC; upper center in plate: Tapia &c.; lower center in plate: Cancer terreftris.; lower left in plate: T32

Wikidata ID

Q74894850

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