Skull of a horse and a piece of limb bone

A watercolour drawing on card by William Lionel Wyllie. A horse skull fragment is depicted in two views: on the left, the skull is viewed from overhead, and on the right the skull is viewed from the side (profile). Both studies display specific features found in the skull, including the sagittal crest, zygomatic arch and supraorbital foramen. The skull fragment only includes part of the bony orbital (eye socket). Pale grey and brown hues are employed to illustrate the surface of the bone, while darker hues convey areas of shadow. The skull’s texture is suggested through patches of delicate parallel and cross-hatched lines in the right-hand study. On the far right is a separate study showing the fragment of a limb bone (also from a horse). In depicting the bone’s form, a dark outline has been employed along the right edge. Hatching and darker hues are also used to illustrate the uneven texture of the bone’s surface.

Object Details

ID: PAD0508
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Wyllie, William Lionel
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection
Measurements: 193 mm x 318 mm