Since we had recently talked about the art of Lascaux I thought that this was an interesting adjunct. The impressive fellow in the top photo is a "Heck" bull, a herd of which has just recently been brought to England for study. They are the closest living creature to the Aurochs that are painted on the walls of Lascaux. Aurochs, as a breed died out centuries ago, and these animals are apparently a result of "back-breeding" with the most ancient cattle breeds in Europe...the kicker is that this was a pursuit initiated by Hermann Goering(pardon any spelling mistakes there) who wanted to re-create some Aryan Eden. Two brothers by the name of Heck were hired to scour Europe for the most ancient breeds they could find...including the lovely, shaggy red Highland coo(cow). There is also quite a bit that is still unkown , or at least in question, about the techniques that they used to ultimately re-create this breed. But, decades later, here is now the closest living relative to the animals, long dead, who were painted in the caves of Lascaux.
This is not necessarily by way of opening any particular discussion...I just thought that we were in need of a new place to start and this article caught my imagination...art imitating life imitating art...kind of cool.
Make of it what you will...off to paint.
