Dinosaurs by Charles R. Knight
Charles R. Knight's realistic renderings were referred to as restorations. During a time when dinosaurs were capturing the fascination of people across the country, Knight's ground-breaking images combined paleontology and artistry to create some of the most popular museum displays of his day. Though somewhat speculative and not entirely based on solid evidence, Knight's paintings put flesh on creatures no one had ever seen, and he helped shape the image of dinosaurs that lives in public consciousness to this day.
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The Eohippus (or Dawn Horse) was about a foot tall and two feet long. Charles Knight's restoration of this creature appeared in National Geographic in 1916. He was a frequent contributor to the magazine.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
With this painting, Knight became one of the first painters to depict dinosaurs as fast, aggressive animals. The Dryptosaurus was 20 feet long, taller than a person, and weighed over 2,000 pounds. It had eight-inch eagle-like talons at the end of each toe.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
Knight's process began at the zoo, where he spent hours sketching the animals and learning their movements.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
In the studio, Knight created more detailed drawings from memory — he did not paint from photographs. In this sketch, Knight shows the animal's muscle structure underneath its skin.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Knight would then base the animal's outside appearance on its bone structure and musculature.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
To create an image of a dinosaur, Knight also started with the bone structure. Here, a sketch of a Stegosaurus skeleton.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
To create an image of a dinosaur, Knight also started with the bone structure. Here, a sculpture of a Stegosaurus skeleton.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
While Knight took artistic license with some dinosaurs' appearances, his paintings became the basis for many peoples' notions of what the creatures looked like.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
The first step was to sketch the dinosaurs' bones in the position Knight ultimately wanted to portray.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Knight would then sketch the creatures with muscles and skin, experimenting with slightly altered positioning.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
The final product — this one showing an Allosaurus eating the meat of a Brontosaurus -- is a full-color painting, even depicting Knight's conception of the dinosaur's skin.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
One of the largest land mammals of their time, the Uintatheriidae had a unique bone structure, particularly on their skull. To help depict the body, Knight may have observed modern elephants, where one can note similarities in the backbone and feet.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
Knight's painting of the Trachodon was a little more vague. Very little is still known about the so-called "duck-billed dinosaur."
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
Legally blind since childhood, Knight had to be very close to the canvas to see the details of his paintings.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Here, Knight has painted an apatosaurus (also known as a brontosaurus), which is one of the largest dinosaurs, measuring over 23 feet long and weighing 25 tons.
Credit: American Museum of Natural History -
Knight was also known for his colorful paintings of contemporary animals, such as The Bengal Tiger with Peacock.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Over the course of his career, Knight painted murals still in existence today on museum walls depicting scenes in natural history.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Tyrannosaurus, 1940. Knight wrote and illustrated several books in the 1940s.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt -
Knight did not like to paint alone. Instead, he preferred a large crowd and a party atmosphere in his studio. He died in 1953 at the age of 78.
Credit: Rhoda Knight Kalt
