1. Gustave Courbert - Jo, la Belle Irlandaise
Artist: Gustave Courbet ( French,1819-1877)
Title: Jo, La Belle Irlandaise (1865-1866)
Ownership: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Media: Oil on Canvas
Comments: During his three-month stay in Trouville in 1865, Courbet attracted a following as a
portraitist among the society women at this fashionable resort on the Normandy coast.
He possibly encountered Joanna Hiffernan (born 1842/43), a "beautiful Irishwoman,"
through his acquaintance with fellow artist James McNeill Whistler, who was also
working in Trouville in 1865. This image of Jo, Whistler's mistress and model,
although dated 1866, was likely painted in 1865, when Courbet wrote of "the beauty
of a superb redhead whose portrait I have begun." He would paint three repetitions
with minor variations.(1)
Photo Copyright: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
2. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Nyctanassa violacea
Size: L 24” WS 42” WT 1.5 lb
Location (date): Texas (July)
Media: Digital Photograph
Comments: This species most often inhabits forested wetlands, swamps, and bayous of the deep
south where poor lighting seems to be the most reliable characteristic of its breeding
sites. Because Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are dark bodied and nest under canopy
in forested areas, aerial surveys are ineffective in determining population status and
because colonies are small and scattered, ground surveys are economically unfeasible.
Yellow-crowned Night-Herons are frequently not listed at all in results of broad surveys
for wading birds.(2)
Photo Copyright: Richard Stade (2009)