2/15/2021
by Michelle Leveille
I’ve admired the artwork of Johann Moritz Rugendas, a German painter who portrayed the world of early 19th century South America on canvas and in etchings.
I also love dinosaurs. Everything is better with dinos, right?
So I added dinosaur heads to Rugendas’s portraits of Brazilian royalty.
Bone map of Prenocephale, a type of Pachycephalosaurus, by Michelle Annette Leveille for the LACNHM
Chief Pachycephalosaurus, by
Michelle Annette Leveille
Rugendas documented the appearance of an unnamed Pahuenche Chief in 1847. I thought that with his horse and spear, he looked ready to charge. I made him into a pachycephalosaur, which are thought to have charged enemies as well. Their ramming weapons, however, were their thick bony heads.
I started creating portraits of Blue-blooded Dinosaurs soon after I finished illustrating the bone maps for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. “Bone maps” are drawings of articulated skeletons, used to show museum guests where the fossilized bones were in the body of the animals.
Life series of triceratops bone maps by Michelle Annette Leveille for the LACNHM
One of the fossils on display in the Museum’s collection is a baby Triceratops. It has a bowled face with a tiny snout and a cute post cranial frill.
Later I was viewing the paintings of Johann Moritz Rugendas. His portrait of young prince Afonso II depicted a boy with a slightly dished cranium as well.
Afonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil, eldest son of Pedro II (detail) by Johann Moritz Rugendas
I mentally and artistically connected the royal youngster with the cold-blooded Trike. This resulted in my first Blue-Blooded Dinosaur - Toddler Triceratops.
Toddler Triceratops by Michelle Annette Leveille
This artwork was a hit with my friends and colleagues, and so I created a series of related pieces in which the public domain portraits of Rugendas made new appearances as their extinct counterparts.
Emperor Dom Pedro I
This royal leader, as depicted by Rugendas, was the central figure among the portraits.
The Portuguese king Pedro IV had sailed from Portugal to found and rule the colony of Brazil as Emperor Pedro I in the early 19th century.
In my version, he devolved into a type of pterosaur which had ranged over the same land (the Romualdo Formation of the Santana Group of Brazil during the Early Cretaceous), lord over the land and sea. He displays the colors of his country’s flag upon his crest.
The Tyrant Tupuxuara by Michelle Annette Leveille
THE ROYAL FIT
His son, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was given a portrait of a potential bride to consider for marriage: that of Cristina Teresa of the Two Sicilies. He agreed and married her by proxy. When he arrived in Portugal a few days later and saw his new bride, he was angry at the portrait painter. “The painter betrayed me! She’s ugly!”
Teresa Cristina of the two Sicilies
Princess Laelaps on the eve of her wedding to the Dictator Dryptosaurus
I made the young bride into a Laelaps dinosaur (which was renamed Dryptosaurus.) She is a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, which means “tyrant lizard king.”
The royal couple bore four children. Afonso, the eldest, was shown above. He died of epilepsy soon after his portrait was painted, at age 2. Their last child was Pedro Afonso, who also possessed a particularly long head. He was clothed in a strapless dress for his portrait. He had fine, downy, golden hair. I made him into Baby Buitreraptor, (also native to South America,) with fine, golden down feathers.
Baby Buitreraptor by Michelle Annette Leveille
Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, 1846
by Johann Moritz Rugendas
The Portuguese reign over Brazil was considered a time of relatively benign rule. The last Emperor, Pedro II, was an inquisitive man of letters who was known for taking up the Brazilian habit of bathing frequently. Here he is posing on his university campus.
Duke Diplodocus by Michelle Annette Leveille
I was tempted to make the dapper dude a duckbill just for the sake of alliteration. He was also extremely tall though, so I transformed him into dandy Duke Diplodocus instead.
My last Blue-blooded Dinosaur portrait is based on a classical painting of Darya Saltykova: Russian noblewoman, supporter of the scientific arts, and serial killer.
Now that's a clever girl.
Dame Deinonychus, by Michelle Annette Leveille
All of my Blue-blooded Dinosaurs are displayed above in frames found at flea markets and online. I sell the prints at 5”x7” size under 8”x10”mats, individually wrapped in clear protective envelopes with story cards enclosed. Each matted print is $9 plus shipping. I am open to stocking galleries and boutiques, and providing framed prints, for special pricing. Please submit inquiries below. Thank you!
- Michelle
GALLERY: Various matted and framed prints of Dame Deinonychus
