Sierra Evening – Mexican Wolf
Robert Bateman Hand Signed Artist Proof 19.375″ x 30.25″
Edition Size: 76
“The smallest and one of the most beautiful varieties of timber wolf is the Mexican wolf or lobos. For a species in a warm, dry climate, its fur is surprisingly luxuriant with rich, tawny colours set against cream and black. It is also, regrettably, extinct in the wild. Formerly it ranged from New Mexico and Arizona into Texas and down across the central plateau of Mexico.
Luckily, a small breeding stock remains in various locations in captivity. It is important that captive breeding and reintroduction into the wild be given wholehearted support. Any ecosystem is incomplete without the dominant predators at the top of the food chain. The wonderful bits of remaining rugged wilderness need to resound with the call of the wolf. Their numbers will never be large, but the picture will not be complete without the wolf. In this painting, I have shown a fleeting glimpse of a handsome male as he is about to vanish behind a Live Oak into the evening shadow. Let us hope that we can put his species back into the picture of our vanishing wilderness.” Robert Bateman
(From the original painting Sierra Evening – Mexican Wolf – 1993 – 24″ x 36″ Oil on board)
