by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877

By AnneGossen

Top Left: Megalosaurus Model by Benjamin WaterhouseHawkins. Circa 1852.Above Right: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Photograph,1870. Princeton University awarded Hawkins an honorary doc-torate and employed him as a lecturer.

“The Victorians’ Dinosaurs” • Anne Gossen • GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 10 • December 2010

hen people think about dinosaurs, theytypically bring to mind Jurassic Park andthe American West. But few people knowthat an artist working in New Jersey playeda seminal role in establishing the conven-tions that define this genre.

No artist was moreinfluential in visual imagesof dinosaurs than BenjaminWaterhouse Hawkins (1807– 1894), who spectacularlylaunched the first waves ofdinosaur mania on bothsides of the Atlantic. Allmodern images of pre-human time ultimatelyderive from this endlesslycreative and theatrical con-jurer of ancient time.

Hawkins was born inLondon and studied at St.Aloysius College, apreparatory school forboys. He pursued sculptureunder the tutelage ofWilliam Behnes and beganhis career in natural historyillustration, creatingdetailed sketches and litho-graphs for influential books

such as Charles Darwin’s The Zoology of theVoyage of the HMS Beagle and the scientif-ic works of John Edward Gray and JohnGould. He received recognition of his artis-tic skill with a membership in the exclusiveRoyal Academy of Arts. Though he had lit-

WCretaceous Life of New Jersey by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877, PrincetonUniversity, Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall. Photo Bruce M. White.

Plate VI by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Engraving for his bookA Comparative View of the Human and Animal Frame, 1860,Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. Hawkins used hisknowledge of the anatomy of living species to guide his representa-tions of extinct animals. He used a distinctive X-ray style with skele-tal structure superimposed on a silhouette to make anatomy intu-itively understandable to all audiences.


tle academic training, he gained a reputa-tion as a scientist as well, writing severalbooks on comparative anatomy andreceiving an invitation to join the presti-gious Linnean Society.

The growth of Hawkins’ reputationcoincided with the expansion of theemerging field of paleontology, the study

of fossils. New discoveries led a vanguardof scientists to propose the revolutionaryidea of extinction, countering widely-held religious beliefs in the infallibilityof God. In 1842 the British scientistRichard Owen was the first to namesome prehistoric animals Dinosauria,from the Greek words meaning “terri-ble lizards.” At this point, the bones ofonly a few species were known.

Twelve years later British officialscommissioned Hawkins to create theworld’s first life-sized sculptures ofdinosaurs to grace the grounds of theSydenham Crystal Palace, a world-renowned exhibition about theprogress of civilization. Hawkins’ mas-sive sculptures used up to 30 tons ofclay each, the largest measuring near-ly 30 feet long and supported only byiron and bricks in its legs. They were

immensely popular with the public, ignit-ing for the first time a wide-spread interestin dinosaurs. Hawkins also created small-scale versions of his sculptures which werethe first dinosaur models offered for sale,reaching the public through mail-order cat-alogues. The sculptures and models intro-duced to the public the idea that the age ofthe earth was much older than previouslybelieved, preparing the way for CharlesDarwin to debut his theory of evolution in1859.

At a lecture for the London Society ofArts, Hawkins proposed that art providedthe best method for teaching the publicabout paleontology in light of the scantfossil record. He also proclaimed his ownanti-evolutionist beliefs when he stated hisgoal was to “for the first time illustrate andrealize—the revivifying of the ancientworld—to call up from the abyss of timeand from the depths of the earth, thosevast forms and gigantic beasts which theAlmighty Creator designed with fitness to

Hawkin’s sculptures were recently conservedand can be seen in the Crystal Palace Park inLondon today.Photograph by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2009, http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/misc/hawkins1b.html

"Skeletons of the Gibbon Orang Champanzee GorillaMan" by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Wood engrav-ing published in Evidence as to Man's Place in Natureby Thomas Henry Huxley, London and Edinburg:Williams and Norgate, 1863. Though he illustratedThomas Huxley's book defending Darwin's theories ofevolution, Hawkins himself believed in creationism andlectured on the topic.


inhabit and precede us in possession ofthis part of the earth.”

In 1868 Hawkins received a commis-sion to create a Paleozoic Museum in NewYork City. Hawkins worked closely withscholars at the Academy of Natural Sciencesin Philadelphia until the project wasstopped prematurely by the corrupt “BossTweed.” The shells of Hawkins’ giant crea-tures, smashed by William M. Tweed’sagents, were likely buried in Central Park.

In the 1870s the renowned professorArnold Guyot of Princeton University (thenthe College of New Jersey) invitedHawkins to lecture at the college, leadingto an honorary degree from the college in1874. The following year Princeton com-missioned Hawkins to create a series ofseventeen massive panoramic paintingsdepicting the geological eras of the earth,to hang in the college’s new ElizabethMarsh Museum of Geology andArchaeology in Nassau Hall. The paintingswere intended to use the most current sci-entific evidence in order to educate the stu-dents. Fifteen of the paintings survivetoday, many of which were recently con-served by Morven Museum & Garden andPrinceton University Art Museum.

The paintings began with a view of theearth at the dawn of life, referencing theBiblical creation story. Though a fewbooks since the 1840s had includedengravings depicting the ages of the earth,Hawkins’ murals are the first paintingsillustrating this theme, setting a precedentfor natural history museums in the decadesto come.

For the second painting (Devonian...),Hawkins shows a variety of fish seeminglyawaiting fossilization upon the ground.This beach-scene convention was commonin geological prints of the 1800s as artistsstruggled to depict underwater life from alands-eye view. However, Hawkins settingwas unique; as he wrote “I have fixedupon Niagara Falls for the foundation ofmy next picture Age of Fishes for theGeological Museum at Princeton.” Likemany people of the time, he was captivat-ed by the natural wonder and felt it sug-gested the massive elemental forces pres-ent in early geological time.

Hawkins populates his atmosphericTriassic Life of Germany with labyrintho-donts, a long-necked Nothosaurus next toa Mastodonsaurus, and a Dyoplax. Thepainting seems to suggest an evolutionary

Devonian Life of the Old Red Sandstone by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1876.Princeton University Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall. During the Devonian period organ-isms had evolved into a multitude of fish and corals in the oceans and the early forests on land.The species in this painting are Osteolepis major, Diplacanthus striatus, Cheiracanthus microlepi-dotus, Coccostreus cuspidatus, Pterichthys, and eurypterids.


narrative of adaptation to life on land. Butthe motif of labyrinthodonts crawling ontothe beach was common in engravings inVictorian natural history books, and is asimple reference to the animals’ amphibi-ous nature. This painting shows other con-ventions of landscape paintings such asvegetation and clouds framing the scene,but the leeringly cheerful expressions ofthe labyrinthodonts are Hawkins’ owninventions.

Hawkins crowded his Jurassic scenewith animals, reflecting the abundant ver-tebrate fossil record. Dinosaurs had firstappeared in the Triassic period and domi-nated the fauna of the Jurassic period. Hebuilt a triangular composition but awk-wardly broke its balance with a left-to-rightprogression towards night, betraying hislack of training. As always, the deeply cre-ative Hawkins theatrically imbued the ani-mals with great character as he sought toengage his audience with the fantasticalscene. In this painting an Iguanodon herdon the left run from three Megalosaurus

bucklandi, one of which stands over itsfallen prey. Three crocodilian Teleosaurs(later renamed Pelagosaurus typus) ascendthe island from the left, while fourHylaeosaurs approach from the right. SixPterodactylus wade and sun themselves.The Megalosaurus (or “giant lizard”) heldspecial importance to the Victorians,because its fossil was the first known to befound, discovered in England in the 1600s.Originally believed to belong to a humangiant, in 1824 Baron Georges Cuvier iden-tified it as a dinosaur, and for manydecades the Megalosaurus was the largestknown carnivore of the ancient world.

Hawkins’ painting Cretaceous Life ofNew Jersey (cover image) included severalrecently discovered species. Entering fromthe left of the painting, three large carniv-orous Dryptosaurus attack a retreating herdof Hadrosaurus foulkii, many of whichswim away. Two large Mosasaurus max-imus and four Elasmosaurus swim in theforeground, and a Pterosaur perches on arock at the right edge. In an attempt to

Triassic Life of Germany by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1876, PrincetonUniversity Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall.


heighten the sense of drama, Hawkinsdeparted from a strictly correct anatom-ical representation by showing thegrappling animals writhing in impossi-ble contortions. As in other paintings,Hawkins picturesquely signs the paint-ing as if his name is a bit of graffiti.The centerpiece of Princeton’s museumwas a replica of the Hadrosaurusfoulkii, discovered in Haddonfield,New Jersey in 1858. It was the mostcomplete dinosaur skeleton of its timeand it proved the new theory that somedinosaurs stood on two legs. (WhileHawkins acknowledged this fact in aletter in 1868, strangely he presents theanimals in the painting on four legs, ashe had earlier for the Crystal Palacesculptures. This may result from hisown anti-evolutionary views orbecause he could not admit that hisCrystal Palace masterpieces weredeeply flawed.) Though it was the mostcomplete dinosaur skeleton of its time,the Hadrosaurus received only scientif-ic interest until Hawkins mounted it ina lifelike position a decade later. Thesensational result created America’s firstphase of “dinosaurmania,” with hun-dreds of thousands of visitors visitingthe skeleton at the Academy of Natural

Jurassic Life of Europe by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877, PrincetonUniversity Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall. Photo Bruce M. White.

The Museum at Princeton University. Photograph,before 1900, Courtesy of the R. C. Ryder Collection.The paintings line the frieze above visitor’s heads.Instead of having traditional frames, the paintingswere installed into the woodwork of the museum,which also housed casts of ancient Greek sculptures;rocks; tools and art of primitive societies; busts andportraits of luminaries; and fossils. The Hadrosaurusfoulkii cast created by Hawkins is visible in the centerof the room.


Sciences. The episode further fueledHawkin’s reputation as the pre-eminentillustrator of dinosaurs.

The herbivore Hadrosaurus foulkii wasnot named for the town of its location—Haddonfield, New Jersey—but rather for acombination of its appearance (adrosmeans “bulky” in Greek) and a maninvolved in its discovery, William Foulke. Itremains the most complete skeleton everfound in the state and is New Jersey’s statedinosaur. Together with the Dryptosaurusdiscovered in 1866, these discoveries madeNew Jersey the forefront of fossil huntingin America until bigger fossils were discov-ered out west.

Hawkins’ lack of formal training inpainting is again apparent in his captivat-ingly naïve landscape The Glacial Epoch inEurope. The glacial epoch is an informalterm for any of the several ice ages in theQuaternary period, debatably our presentperiod. The perspective, as for all thepaintings, is intended to be viewed fromseveral feet below. The initials E. M.by Hawkins’ signature, written as if it

is graffiti on the rocks, refer to the museum’s name.

Hawkins gives greater emphasis togeology in this painting, with carefuldepictions of silt and ice flows. He wasguided by Arnold Henri Guyot(1807–1884), a professor at PrincetonUniversity who determined key laws ofglacial motion. The beaver-like animals onthe left are Trogontherium cuvieri, whichat over 400 pounds were the largestrodents of their age. The herd of reindeeris a species which still exists today.Mammoths, seen on the right, becameextinct approximately 10,000 years ago.

The pose of the fighting animals inAttack in Pleistocene England was takendirectly from influential posters thatHawkins made many years earlier. ThePleistocene is one of two divisions of theQuaternary period. In this painting, foursaber-toothed Smilodons attack threemammoths while a pack of hyena assaultfrom the rear. One hyena is hastilysketched, suggesting that the painting wasnever fully finished. The composition of

The Glacial Epoch in Europe by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877. PrincetonUniversity Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall.


the animals in this painting is the most fullyintegrated, with each group directly inter-acting with the others.

Hawkins’ paintings for PrincetonUniversity were the culmination of hiscareer and his final commission. They pre-sented views into the timeline of the earth’spast, richly evoking animals and scenesthat the public had hardly known existed.In the generations that followed, artistssuch as Charles Knight would create mas-sive murals at the American Museum ofNatural History and other museums. Butuntil then, Hawkins brought the first visionof the dinosaurs to the public.

A little over a year after completing thepaintings, Hawkins retired, returning to hisfamily in London. The paintings remainedin Nassau Hall until 1909, when they weremoved to Guyot Hall for nearly a century.They were recently exhibited at MorvenMuseum & Garden and are currently protected in storage at Princeton UniversityArt Museum.

I would like to thank Robert Peck, Senior Fellow andCurator of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and DavidParris, Curator of the Natural History Department, NewJersey State Museum, for their expert guidance, and thePrinceton University Art Museum for its generous sup-port. Further information can be found in All in theBones: A Biography of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins byRobert Peck (Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences,Philadelphia, 2008), Scenes from Deep Time: EarlyPictorial Representations of the Prehistoric World byMartin J. S. Rudwick (Chicago: University Press ofChicago, 1992), A History of Paleontology Illustration byJane P. Davidson (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press,2008), and The Legacy of the Mastodon: The Golden Age ofFossils in America by Keith Thomson (New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 2008).

Anne Gossen received her A.B. cum laude in Art Historyat Harvard University where she received the JohnHarvard Scholarship and Elizabeth Cary Aggasiz Award.She completed her M.A. with honors in the WinterthurMuseum Program in Early American Culture from theUniversity of Delaware where she received the FlemingAward for Best Master's Thesis. Gossen served as MorvenMuseum & Garden's Academic and Artistic Director andCurator of Exhibitions. She received a 2010 Author'sAward from the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance'sfor her book Princeton 1783: The Nation's Capital, andshe has written numerous books, articles, and exhibi-tions. Currently located in New York, Gossen continuesto publish about early American art and history.


Attack in Pleistocene England by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877. PrincetonUniversity Department of Geosciences, Guyot Hall.

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by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Oil on canvas, 1877