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Audrey Weber Little is known about the artist Audrey Weber. She was associated with the Natural History Museum during the 1950s. Some of her correspondences are in the Museum Archives, they consist mainly of brief memos to various members of staff in the Palaeontology department They provide very few clues to her private life. Her connection with the Museum must have been fairly strong as she illustrated ‘Alps and Elephants: Hannibal March’, by Gavin de Beer, 1955 who was the Director of the Museum during the 1950s. She also illustrated other books published by the Museum. Weber appears to have had quite a varied career. In the 1920s
she illustrated a number of walking guides for Southern Railways
written by S.P.B. Mais.
The main subject of the painting is a marine turtle; a tropical island can be seen in the distance. Turtles are an ancient group of reptiles that saw the rise and fall of the dinosaurs. The earliest turtles were enormous, tortoise-like animals. Millions of years of evolution resulted in some species adapting to life in the oceans. The earliest known marine turtle fossils are about 110-150 million years old. The one depicted in the painting is claimed to be the fossil (Allopleuron hofmanni) from the Upper Cretaceous of Maastricht, Holland. The remains of this turtle have been known from the eighteenth century. In 1871 The British Museum acquired the privately owned Van Breda Collection by auction. The collection contained a number of fine fossil bones and two large blocks containing almost complete skeletons of this turtle. This collection is housed in the Palaeontology Department. However, the exact identity of the turtle in this painting is inconclusive. As time goes by we are learning more about turtles and more fossil remains are being found. At the time of the painting this reconstruction showed how (Allopleuron hofmanni) was thought to look. Since then more information has been unearthed and Weber’s portrayal would now be regarded as inaccurate. But this does not detract from the fact that the painting itself is a delightful large composition of a marine turtle in its natural habitat. As a group marine turtles are very successful. Their carapace is smooth and aerodynamic; their oar-like flippers enable them to be excellent and graceful swimmers. It is claimed that some species can live to over a hundred years. One reason for their longevity is important parts of their bodies’ do not deteriorate with age. Also, their bodies do not require a large amount of energy to survive and they can live for long periods without food or water. Another interesting fact is that they continue to grow very slowly throughout their lives; it can take between 15 to 50 years to reach reproductive maturity depending on the species. Once the oceans of the world had an abundance of turtle species, but the last hundred years have seen a steady decline of the turtle population. This is a consequence of man’s destructive nature, hunting, fishing, uncontrolled development and pollution have attributed to their dwindling numbers. Marine turtles are now an endangered species; there are just seven species in existence today. Additional paintings The additional paintings portray Triassic scenes.The Triassic period was named in 1834 by Friedrich August Von Alberti (1795-1878). He was a German geologist, who originally named it the 'Trias'. The name was derived because this geological era is characterised by a tripartite separation of rock types in Germany, the bunter, the Muschelkalk, and the Keuper. These rock types are not found elsewhere and are local to that part of the world. The landscape of the Triassic period was very different
from what it is today; there was no grass or flowering plants.
But there were ferns and horsetails in flooded areas as depicted
in Weber’s painting. The first dinosaurs and mammals
appeared in the late Triassic.The Triassic period was 248-206
million years ago (mya). The early part of this era (248 mya)
saw the Permo-Triassic extinction occur. This mass extinction
is the largest extinction ever known. About 95% of all species
and about 60% of the genera died out, including many marine
animals such as the trilobite. The causes for this extinction
are not conclusive, global cooling and volcanic eruptions
are just some of the explanations given for this catastrophic
event.
The painting was commissioned by the Natural History Museum for the Fossil Reptile Gallery.
Exhibition and publication details Thackray, J. C. A. (1995) A catalogue of portraits, paintings and sculpture at the Natural History Museum London. Mansell: London. 70pp.
References and further reading Davidson, O. G. (2001) Fire in the Turtle House: The Green Sea Turtle and the Fate of the Ocean. Public Affairs: New York. 258pp. Klemens, M. W. (ed.) (2000) Turtle conservation. Smithsonian Institution Press: Wahsington. 334pp. Ripple, J. (2002) Sea turtles. Voyageur Press: Minnesota.
74pp.
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