Science Art: Nyctodactlyus, by F. John, c. 1915

Against a prehistoric sunset over a primordial ocean, a leather-winged flying reptile feeds two or more young in their nest, made in a cranny of a seaside cliff.
Against a prehistoric sunset over a primordial ocean, a leather-winged flying reptile feeds two or more young in their nest, made in a cranny of a seaside cliff.

This glimpse into a prehistoric world (which we now know should probably have at least a few more feathers in it) is part of the first series of chromolithographic cards created by German artist F. John. As you can read at the copyrightexpired.com page where I found them, John’s cards were mostly given away with packs of cocoa, and were “for the most part colorized versions of the work of earlier published material from books and magazines of the day, and many are based on the work of Charles R. Knight’s paintings from the American Museum of Natural History.”

Sunset mealtime with mother and children. Still a lovely scene.