Artwork for Sale
Pygmy Falcon, 1997
50.8 x 40.6 cm
Inscriptions
signed, dated and inscribed, ‘Robert Bateman 1997 ©’ (lower right); numbered, titled and inscribed, ‘97-14 PYGMY FALCON 20X16 OIL’ (verso, upper centre); inscribed, ‘IC22233’ (verso, centre)Provenance
Halcyon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, 2000
Private collection, New Hampshire
Exhibitions
Johannesburg, Everard Read Gallery, Diversities, October-November 2000, no. 25.
Literature
Robert Bateman, Birds (New York / Toronto: Pantheon Books / Madison Press Book, 2002), 155 [reproduced].
p.155: The pygmy falcon (above) is about the size of an American robin, but like the martial eagle, it is a raptor and a ruthless hunter. These deceptively soft-feathered birds perch on exposed branches to catch sight of smaller birds or insects, which it captures in mid-air. Like many creatures, pygmy falcons live in a symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship with another bird species-the white-headed buffalo weaver. They move into abandoned weavers' nests and, in return, it's thought that the falcons' aggressive behavior protects the other weavers in the tree from predators.
Robert Bateman, Birds of prey: an introduction (Toronto:Scholastic Canada / Madison Press Book, 2007), 23 [reproduced].
The Pygmy Falcon (1997) depicts one of Africa's smallest but fiercest raptors. In Birds, Robert Bateman wrote: “The pygmy falcon is about the size of an American robin, but like the martial eagle, it is a raptor and a ruthless hunter. These deceptively soft-feathered birds perch on exposed branches to catch sight of smaller birds or insects, which it captures in mid-air. Like many creatures, pygmy falcons live in a symbiotic, or mutually beneficial, relationship with another bird species-the white-headed buffalo weaver. They move into abandoned weavers' nests and, in return, it's thought that the falcons' aggressive behavior protects the other weavers in the tree from predators.”
The two paintings, Verreaux Eagle Owl and Pygmy Falcon, along with 10 other images, were made into prints for SAPPI [South Africa Pulp and Paper Industry] to help them raise money for conservation.
