Happy Birthday Charles
For a closer look at Mr. Darwin and Geospiza magnirostris, click here.
February 12th, 1809. Born the same day as Abraham Lincoln.
As I post this I know damn well I should have painted him as an old man with a white beard, but I just couldn’t do it. No, I had to try this. I managed to find only 3 photographs of Mr. Darwin as a younger man, and none near the time of the Voyage of the Beagle. Taking 20 or 30 years off a face is not terribly hard, but understanding it enough to make that face smile is another thing. And I know people really did smile in the 19th Century, but considering the dental care of the period, and the duration of the film exposures, I guess it would have been asking a lot.
Mr. Darwin probably viewed a lot more of the finches over the sights of a shotgun than this way, it was a different time, but the wonders of life around him must have caused a lot of smiles to form. All the wildlife of the Galapagos was remarkably tame and let’s face it, if I can share a beer with an Australopithecine on this blog, Charles Darwin can share a smile with one of the finches that will bear his name.
February 12th, 2006 at 3:32 am
Ha! Dibs on first comment!
Carl, this picture rocks! It’s so good, it’s almost anti-climactic to comment on it. (And I really like the birthday card framing too.) Beautiful piece.
February 12th, 2006 at 6:15 am
Beautiful! Thank you.
February 12th, 2006 at 11:02 am
how about darwin contemplating dart’s baby? would he have been smiling? would you care to speculate on how darwin would have reacted to an australopithecus skull rather than a finch?
February 12th, 2006 at 11:29 am
Great picture… even if he does look ever so slightly like Dubya.
February 12th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Stanley: That would have been a good image too, and yes he would have been smiling. There were no hominid fossils available when he wrote of man’s beginnings in Africa. He would have loved Dart’s find.
The truth is I started out with the idea of painting all 13 species of Darwin’s Finches mobbing our birthday boy. But as things worked out, I was lucky to get anything posted at all. As it was I posted this last night (2:30am) and then realized that I had forgotten the buttons and the shadow of the neck(whatever) on the piece. Maybe next year, I’ll age him and surround him with transitional species. And I’ll start working on it in December.
Roger: Ouch! You just had to say that didn’t you. I’ll never be able to look at the picture in the same way again.
February 12th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Great Job! Thanks for posting!
February 12th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
I’m sure he smiled frequently at the natural world around him (just not when he was at sea). I often got the image of him as struck with the wonder of what he was seeing when I read Voyage of the Beagle. I was quite tickled that the first bird we saw when we got off the plane in the Galapagos was one of Darwins Finches at our feet, and amazed that we had them landing on our table at supper that night. Although most of the time he saw them down the barrel of the gun, the image isn’t really that far fetched.
February 12th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
[...] Olduvai George has another portrait of young Mr Darwin. [...]
February 12th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
[...] Before I begin, I’d like to point out the birthday card that Carl Buell made for Darwin, and shared on his website, Olduvai George, this morning. Drawing Darwin as a young man rather than the older, bearded chap we all know and love, Buell shows him in a new light. Finally, Darwin shows a twinkle of personality, and glimpse of the awe reflected in his writings. [...]
February 12th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Excellent. Now we need a version for Google: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpurrin1/82591845/in/set-1495012/
February 12th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
Lovely! Thank you.
fusilier
James 2:24
February 12th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
I’m sure ol’ Charlie would be happy with your render of his smile…and with the extra hair over his skull too! (just kidding, great portrait). BTW My birthday was on Feb.9. Does it makes me a bit closer to share a bit of his genius?….mmmhhh….I doubt it.
February 12th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
I realized I never commented here saying thanks for a great Darwinian insight on smilin’ in the 19th century!
Really, the first Sunday after the NFL season is a rough one. Darwin Day kept me busily bloggin’ so as to get over the withdrawal! lol!
Thanks again.
February 12th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Wonderful Carl…Darwin MUST have had this experience. I’ve had finches and other Galapagos birds scamper across my lap while sitting at the shore. It is an awe-inspiring experience and even better to have it happen on the very places Darwin walked. I have been very fortunate… and today has very special meaning for me. It must be more than a cosmic coincidence that Darwin and Lincoln were born on the same day…and it is truely insulting to suggest anything W could possibly be in the same league. I see no resemblence between your young Darwin and W. Besides…W. would not know a Darwin’s finch if he saw one and Cheney would probably shoot it anyway!
Steve
February 13th, 2006 at 4:03 am
I thought Cheney only shoot people he hunts together with.
Great picture, it really caprtures the spirit of Darwin and his work.
February 13th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Heh, *nods* Yep, I can definetaly see Mr. Charles having a moment just like that when he first got to Galapagos. Very good.
February 13th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Aw, I missed Darwin’s birthday! Must mark the calendar and send cards to my evo friends next year
Awesome picture, as usual.
February 15th, 2006 at 1:31 am
[...] [...]
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:33 am
Clare, from my reading of Darwin afloat, he did more teechnicolour yawning than smiling. Great pic, though George.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Very nice! Check out my own b-day tribute @
Myspace.com/carrot_field
February 13th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Grande Darwin , felicidades en tu cumpleaños postumos, desde que visitastes mi tierra aca en Chile, por alla en 1834.
” Conozca en detalle los lugares que recorrió este naturalista ingles en la región, recorra el pasado de Las termas de cauquenes, las minas de oro de yáquil en San Fernando, y la impresiónante caverna del obispo y recorra las costa de la comuna de Navidad y los mismos lugares que Darwin colecto fósiles.
Aventúrese en este episodio de la vida que usted podrá revivir obteniendo este magnifico libro que también se encuentra en versión ingles”
Visiten mi BLOG
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
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