Rob Marshall – additional information added by Avianweb). The cockatoo bird is generally endemic to the South Pacific islands, is generally whitish, and most notable is the bird’s crest, which it uses to display emotion. Outside of Australia, the Moluccan and Umbrella also make a lovely pets but are rarely kept as pets in Australia due to their expense.Ĭockatoos are a type of parrot. These very friendly and affectionate birds make great pets. The species available as pets range from the well-known Sulphur Crested , the Galah, the Major Mitchell, the Red tail Black Cockatoo, to the lesser known White (Umbrella) Cockatoo. These can be divided into two main groups – the white cockatoos and the black cockatoos. In January, a 500-year-old prayer book belonging to a Portuguese nun, which seems to depict a kangaroo, was heralded as evidence that the Dutch were not the first Europeans to arrive in Australia.Native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, there are over 40 species. I think lots of people will be looking at these paintings more closely now.” Whether it’s from Australia or Timor, it still challenges everything we know. “This could explain why the cockatoo got to Venice. “The Ming dynasty in China in the 1430s curtailed trade, which forced traders marooned in Indonesia to look to trade into India and the Middle East, which could then go onto Venice. “We know sea cucumbers were traded from the 17th century from Arnhem land but not the area where these cockatoos were,” said Dalton. The cockatoo could have been transported from Australia or eastern Indonesia via China, altering what was previously known of trading routes to Europe. It would’ve been included as a symbol of luxury and to show the wealth of the family which commissioned it.”ĭalton said there is no other evidence of cockatoos in Europe at this time, although other parrots were venerated at the time as being second only to humans in the animal kingdom due to their ability to talk.
“These cockatoos can live for more than 60 years so it could’ve lasted the journey along the Silk Road routes, which would’ve taken years. “This is unusual because later paintings of cockatoos, in the 17th century, showed them sideways, with the crest erect, because they were dead. “It’s so realistic, looking straight ahead at you, relaxed” she said. It’s taken 10 years because I’ve wanted to be sure.”ĭalton said Mantegna could have somehow obtained a picture of a cockatoo to copy but there is good reason to believe he had a live bird.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to on this has said it absolutely is a sulphur-crested cockatoo. “Other art historians noted it was unusual but didn’t really explore it. “I was flicking through a book of paintings and thought ‘what is that?’” she told Guardian Australia. It’s unclear how Mantegna included a bird found in New Guinea and Australia, given that trading routes to Europe were not clearly established at the time.ĭr Heather Dalton, a historian at the University of Melbourne, first noticed the presence of the cockatoo 10 years ago and has been working to confirm the bird’s identity for an analysis that has now been published. The painting, completed by Andrea Mantegna in 1496 and now hanging in the Louvre, clearly shows what appears to be a sulphur-crested cockatoo perched above Mary, mother of Jesus.
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