Glenns Ferry Formation, Hagerman, southern Idaho
Painted 1969
Acrylic on canvas; 12 ft., 3 in. H × 18 ft., 11 in. W
Glenns Ferry Formation, Hagerman, southern Idaho
Painted 1969
Acrylic on canvas; 12 ft., 3 in. H × 18 ft., 11 in. W
Blancan Land Mammal Age, 3.5 million years ago
1 · Populus (cottonwood)
2 · Phalacrocorax auritus (double-crested cormorant)
3 · Trigonictis macrodon (Trigonictis idahoensis; grison)
4 · Stegomastodon (Trilophodon or Mammut sp.; gomphothere elephant)
5 · Salix (willow)
6 · Olar hibbardi (swan)
7 · Ciconia maltha (La Brea stork)
8 · Hemiauchenia (Procamelus or Tanupolama sp.; camel)
9 · Arctodus sp. (short-faced bear)
10 · Puma lacustris (Felis lacustris; puma)
11 · Megalonyx (ground sloth)
12 · Pelecanus halieus (pelican)
13 · Equus simplicidens (Plesippus shoshonensis; horse)
14 · Ceratomeryx prenticei (pronghorn)
15 · Gallinula sp. (moorhen)
16 · Anser pressus (goose)
17 · Platygonus pearcei (peccary)
18 · Alilepus vagus (Pratilepus vagus; rabbit)
19 · Anas platyrhynchos (mallard)
20 · Nymphaea (water lily)
21 · Podilymbus (Colymbus; grebe)
22 · Rana cf. pipiens (leopard frog)
23 · Pseudemys idahoensis (Chrysemys idahoensis; cooter)
24 · Castor californicus (Castor canadensis; beaver)
25 · Megantereon hesperus (Machairodus hesperus; saber-toothed cat)
26 · Satherium piscinarium (Lutra piscinaria; giant otter)
27 · Ictalurus vespertinus (catfish)
28 · Ondatra minor (Pliopotamys minor; muskrat)
29 · Rallus lacustris (rail)
30 · Paracryptotis gidleyi (Cryptotis gidleyi or Blarina; shrew)
31 · Mustela rexroadensis (Mustela gazini; weasel)
32 · Mimomys sp. (Cosomys sp.; vole)
33 · Stellaria (chickweed)
34 · Schoenoplectus (tule bulrush)
35 · Lemna (duckweed)
The Hagerman fauna included a large diversity of birds. Many were closely related to modern species, on which Matternes based their appearances. The water lily (Nymphaea), tule bullrush (Schoenoplectus), and duckweed (Lemna) are still typical of modern Idaho ponds and lakes.
A pelican (top left), double-crested cormorant (bottom right), and La Brea stork (bottom left) are among the many familiar birds. Matternes added a single frog to a lily pad (top right) at the suggestion of Smithsonian curator John White.
The ground sloth Megalonyx (below) was first studied by President Thomas Jefferson, who mistakenly identified it as a large cat because of its giant hand claws. As can be seen from their finished poses, Matternes modeled the individuals in the mural on skeletons of two different species (opposite top left): the distantly related Paramylodon (left individual), and Megalonyx from the University of Nebraska State Museum (right individual). A grove of cottonwood trees (right) gives the scene a familiar feel.
In the mural’s background, a herd of mastodons enjoy the water ponded behind the beaver dam. Matternes shows a range of behaviors here—wallowing, spraying, pushing—that capture the “elephant-ness” of these beasts. He based his studies of their musculature (opposite) on two mounted mastodon (Mammut) skeletons, although the Hagerman species is now thought to be Stegomastodon.
A peccary herd is one of the mural’s central elements. The bristly texture of the animals’ fur is readily visible. The artist based it on fossils of a complete family group found at Hagerman and displayed at the Smithsonian. Today, peccaries live only in more southerly regions of North America.
Matternes developed these detailed sketches from mounted skeletons of various extinct species of the peccary Platygonus. He captured subtle distinctions in proportion that he used to infer the appearance of the Hagerman species, P. pearcei.
The mural is rich with details of life in the Hagerman environment. Below, a large beaver (Castor) attempts to bring a branch back to its lodge and dam (right). An otter swims away with its dinner, a catfish, while two turtles sun nearby (opposite, bottom left). Meanwhile, two weasels confront each other for the spoils of a kill, a vole (opposite, right).
Matternes made this grizzly-like reconstruction of a short-faced bear (left) before studying the animal’s skeleton in detail for the late Pleistocene mural (see this page). He later intended to make corrections, but found this impractical due to the placement of mounted skeletons in front of the mural.
Equus simplicidens, the “Hagerman horse,” was the centerpiece of the Smithsonian’s display of Pliocene fossils, with several posed as if part of a family group (see this page and this page). Matternes depicted the same herd centrally in the mural, and the animals are partially striped, as befits their possible close relationship with zebras. The exhibit mounts were the basis for the artist’s supporting skeletal and musculature studies (below).
In the center foreground of the mural, Megantereon (called Machairodus at the time) lunges for a beaver caught out gathering a branch for its lodge. This saber-toothed cat species is sometimes called “scimitar-toothed” because its canines were shorter than those of ice-age Smilodon (though they were still impressive). Stocky and strong, Megantereon was more likely an ambush, rather than pursuit, predator.
The cat Puma lacustris (opposite) was a close relative of the modern puma, P. concolor, on which Matternes based this reconstruction. The two species likely shared a similar preference for stalking and ambushing their prey.
Two things are worth noting in these layouts, which detail the larger mammals that Matternes planned to depict in the mural. At bottom right, the uncertain identification of the elephant is clear from its label as Trilophodon and “not Mastodon”—compare this with the Stegomastodon herd ultimately shown in the mural (see this page). Opposite, at top right, small studies show the body profiles of various camel species, which distinguish them even at a distance.
More small mammals, birds, and reptiles are shown here than in any of the other NMNH murals. Matternes used modern species as models for the Hagerman forms, whose fossils are often quite fragmentary and incomplete—only a single thigh bone was known of the duck, for example.
This plan view of the exhibit shows the placement of the mural relative to the gallery lights and spaces selected for specimens. Note the labeled “temp. barrier behind which Matternes is working” in front of the curved niche that ultimately held the mural.
This pencil sketch depicts the full layout of all components of the mural at their proper scale. Particularly evident here are the angle of the sunlight and the shadows that Matternes planned to include in the completed work.
After Matternes made the pencil sketch shown opposite, he created this small study painting to work out the appearance and placement of the animals and the mural’s overall color palette. He used this painting to plot the final version on the canvas (see this page).
