The Dodo and the Guinea Pig, 1757

The stunning illustration "The Dodo and the Guinea Pig" recreated from George Edwards' esteemed 1757 collection called Gleanings of Natural History Vol.2. This artwork shows a zoological drawing depicting the now extinct Dodo, Raphus cucullatus, together with the familiar Guinea Pig, Cavia porcellus.

The work appears as plate 294 in chapter 84 of the second volume of "Gleanings of Natural History" published in London in 1760 by the author himself. Edwards' depiction of the dodo is based on an earlier depiction that he once owned and is now kept in the Natural History Museum in London. Edward's explanation is that the original illustration was made in Holland, based on a live dodo brought from the island of St. Maurice in the East Indies during the early European voyages of discovery via the Cape of Good Hope. The artwork, which once belonged to Sir Hans Sloane until his death, was later acquired by Edwards and eventually placed in the British Museum. The inclusion of the guinea pig with the dodo serves to provide a size reference and illustrates the size of the dodo.