Rudolph F. Zallinger
Encyclopedia
Rudolph Franz Zallinger was an American-based artist notable for his mural The Age of Reptiles
(1947) at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and for the popular illustration known as March of Progress
(1965), one of the world's most recognizable scientific images.
, Siberia
in 1919. He attended Yale’s School of Fine Arts
on scholarships during the Great Depression
, was trained as an illustrator, and he taught at Yale after graduation. The Peabody Museum hired him to paint the mural in 1943 at $40 a week, and Zallinger took a crash course in paleontology to prepare for the job. After that, the museum appointed him as the “artist in residence”, a position he held until his death.
The Age of Reptiles
The Age of Reptiles is a 110-foot mural depicting the period of ancient history when reptiles were the dominant creatures on the earth, painted by Rudolph Franz Zallinger. The fresco sits in the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut, and was completed in 1947 after three years of work...
(1947) at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and for the popular illustration known as March of Progress
March of Progress (illustration)
The March of Progress, or simply March of Progress, is one of the most famous and recognizable scientific illustrations ever produced. A compressed presentation of 25 million years of human evolution, it depicts 15 human evolutionary forebears lined up as if marching in a parade from left to right...
(1965), one of the world's most recognizable scientific images.
Biography
Zallinger was born in IrkutskIrkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in 1919. He attended Yale’s School of Fine Arts
Yale School of Art
The Yale School of Art is one of twelve constituent schools of Yale University. It is a professional art school, granting only Masters of Fine Arts degrees to those completing studies in graphic design, painting/printmaking, photography, or sculpture....
on scholarships during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, was trained as an illustrator, and he taught at Yale after graduation. The Peabody Museum hired him to paint the mural in 1943 at $40 a week, and Zallinger took a crash course in paleontology to prepare for the job. After that, the museum appointed him as the “artist in residence”, a position he held until his death.