THE subject to be now treated of is of so varied a nature, requiring so great a knowledge of anatomy, and so much experience and aptitude, that I have deemed it advisable to reserve for a separate chapter the explanations of the processes to be learned, to avoid, at the outset, confusing the learner by asking him to attempt too much. This chapter may therefore be considered a finishing one, and, perhaps, it will be best to be candid, and say at once, that no one should attempt the mounting of animals by this method until he has fully mastered the principles laid down in the foregoing chapter, and has learned the characteristic attitudes and expression of some hundreds of animal forms.
It is quite true that this art — which has for its end and aim the better delineation of character as exhibited by the lower animals — is not teachable unless the pupil is well grounded in anatomy, and is also a clever draughtsman and modeller — in fine, an artist! — with all an artist's perception of beauty of line and of form. I will here indicate what I take to be the basis upon which a competent taxidermist must proceed to become a zoological artist. First, then, let him take lessons in drawing, pinning himself steadily to copying pictures by the best masters of zoological subjects; as he advances, let him draw from the casts of animals, when procurable.
Let him beware, however, of the conventional lion, and lion's head, which are about as much like the real things as the donkey is like the horse — just a family resemblance, nothing more. Having done all this, let him copy animals from nature; and if he lives in or near London, so much the better, there is the "Zoo" for him to study in. Indeed, it is a marvel to me that, with the museums and the Zoological Gardens surrounding them, so few London taxidermists attain even a respectable proficiency in the correct delineation of animal forms. The pupil being well grounded in drawing, will have observed many points in animal anatomy not hitherto suspected by him, and will naturally wish to know the why and wherefore of the swellings and depressions occurring in his subjects. To this end he must study a little simple anatomy of bones and muscles — their objects and meanings in different animals.
The last stage is the reproduction, by modelling in clay, etc.., of the various parts of animals, the head, of course, in the instance of large mammals, being looked upon as the chief motif in composition. To do all this requires time and considerable perseverance, but, with the facilities for study now offered by the various schools of art, he should not despair of success in a few years' time after mastering the first principles of his art.
I will now proceed to demonstrate how the learner may work himself up to a respectable proficiency in modelling animals, should he possess the necessary aptitude.
Let us divide our theme into three parts — First, mounting the skin of the specimen, by using the skeleton as a foundation.
Secondly, mounting by means of a rough framework of wood and iron, more completely than as instanced in the example of the bear mentioned in the last chapter.
Thirdly, mounting on a model skeleton of carved wood and iron, to represent, and to take the place of, the bones; somewhat in the manner described for the elephant.
In each of these systems there is one point of resemblance, namely, that the bones, or their semblances, are to be covered with hard composition, of some kind or another, to replace the flesh and muscles, and that the heads of mammals being often of great beauty, and possessing certain characters of their own, are to be copied first of all by one of two methods. Either they must be
(1) cast as a "mould" from the dead head, and the "return," or model, again cast from that; or