97 



ON CABINET GROUPS OF STUFFED ANIMALS, PICTURING 

 THE EFFECTS OF THEIR PASSIONS. 



BY M. BOITARD. 



Specimen of a cabinet picture of a Lion and Tiger fighting.* 



We denominate groups, those kinds of pictures in a cabinet of 

 stuffed animals usually representing some action, but more frequently 

 possessing no interest besides the brilliant plumage of the animals of 

 which they are composed. A falcon tearing a turtle-dove or a squirrel 

 to pieces, or two doves billing on a rose-bush ; a partridge covering 

 her numerous brood with her wings to conceal them from the fangs of 

 a weasel, or the piercing eye of a bird of prey ; a nightingale opposing 

 her impotent anger to a serpent which slides its head into her nest to 

 seize and devour one of her young — such we call pictures representing 

 an action : and compositions of this kind are very interesting, when 

 they are arranged with taste, and the artist has the talent to give each 

 individual the attitude and expression most proper to describe the sup- 

 posed emotion, as anger, fright, ferocity, or love. 



* Taken from a beautiful model in wax, by Mr. D. Morrison. 

 VOL. I. NO. III. 1833. H 



