Missouri Leviathan
Printmaker
George Tytler
Printer
L. M. Lefevre
(British, active 1830 - 1843)
Date1842
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsFRAMED: 23 × 26 in. (58.4 × 66 cm)
SHEET: 13 × 17 in. (33 × 43.2 cm)
SHEET: 13 × 17 in. (33 × 43.2 cm)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineTibbals Circus Collection
Object numberht8000019
A skeleton of a mammoth-like animal unearthed in Benton County, Missouri by Albert Koch and exhibited in 1842 at Egyptian Hall in London.
Though the skeleton is likely that of a mastodon, Koch added at least a dozen vertebrae to the back-bone, and ribs to the chest to turn the creature into an exaggerated 'aquatic monster.' Newspaper announcements heralded the exhibition as an opportunity to “bear witness to how […] wonderful Creation was from the beginning, and what changes it has undergone since.”
“The Missouri Leviathan”. The Daily Pittsburgh Gazette: 26 August 1841
On View
Not on viewCollections
February 8, 1871
February 7, 1871
