The blog-o-sphere is reeling today with supposed sightings of the Loch Ness Monster on Google Earth! Check it out – we wonder whether perhaps Nessie and our Colossal squid are related?
Image of Google Earth care of Geekologie.com
Weird co-incidence number 2 is that during the squid defrost, some of the scientists nick-named our squid ‘Messie’ - after the scientific name Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni.
For those of you whose Latin pronunciation is not great, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni is pronouced something like ‘Mess-on-a-ca-tooth-this’.
Te Papa’s Colossal Squid website
Nessie Loch Ness Monster and the Black Man without a face date 1949-
Artist Maurits Cornelis ESCHER 1898-1972 NL
June 29th 2010, Rome
Great works of art
Andrea Dipré, famous art critique with Antonio Prospero, CEO of the Escher-
Nessie association.
Welcome to you all by Andrea Dipré, presenter of the program The Great Works
of art. The subject of today’s program is a drawing of exceptional and
fundamental importance due to its artistic value by the Dutch graphic artist
and engraver Maurits Cornelis Escher who, with his genius, tackled the
geometrical representation of art.
One of his works was found by chance a few years ago, stashed away for decades
in an old and forgotten garage in a small village in the southern region of
Campania. This work is of extraordinary importance.
Escher was loved by scientists, mathematicians and logicians. The work is
dedicated to the myth of the Monster of Loch Ness known as Nessie.
The picture is held together in a wooden oak frame and depicts a mysterious
figure playing a fife who seems to be enchanting the sea creature with his
music.
Here you can see a life-size photo of the original, which is well hidden in a
secret location. On the back of the picture there is the signature of Escher
himself as confirmed by a scientific study of his calligraphy.
The work is a charcoal drawing measuring 53 cm x 42 cm. This extraordinary
piece of art was found, as said above, by chance by policeman Raffaele De Feo.
The calligraphy and signature have been officially recognized. The work is of
amazing importance also due to the sightings of the Monster of Loch Ness which
began in the 1930s.
The work was given to policeman Rafaelle De Feo’s mother and brought to Italy
a few years later to Volturara Irpina a small village in the southern province
of Avellino . Escher managed to represent the essence of Nessie. Here is the
life-size photo of the picture. You can contact the owner or Mr. Prospero for
more information, and have the chance to see the original which belongs to myth
rather than history.
The work, I remind you, is an Escher, the great Dutch artist who was born in
1898 and died in 1972. Mr. Prospero is also working hard to make the piece of
art obtain the recognition it deserves. It has already had great success by a
vast public, but my wish is for it to obtain even larger and wider popularity.
Thank you.
http://www.eschernessie.it
http://www.nessie.co.uk/htm/nessies_news/news.html
http://www.loch-ness.org/news.html
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1645086?UserKey=
Nessie in Italian attic mystery
Mystery drawing may have been done by master illusionist
By neil macphail
Published: 13/03/2010
ARTISTIC CONUNDRUM: The 1949 painting entitled Loch Ness Monster and Black
Man without a Face
More Pictures
Our Loch Ness Monster is famed the world over, and pops up in very strange
circumstances from time to time.
Now she has surfaced at the centre of an art mystery in Italy.
This centres around a charcoal drawing dating from 1949, which is described as
Loch Ness Monster and Black Man without a Face, and which could possibly have
been drawn by famous Dutch artist, MC Escher.
This story of the mystery painting starts in 2005 in Volturara, a small
village in the Italian province of Avellino, where traffic police officer
Raffaele De Feo lives.
When clearing out his family’s attic, he found what he called “the strange
picture”.
Initially he did not take any notice of it, but later, in removing the frame,
he sees an inscription on the back of the picture, signed by MC Escher, which
reads: “With all my heart to a friendly remembrance.”
Now some Italians are urging art experts to authenticate the work as being
done by Maurits Cornelis Escher, nicknamed “Mauk”, and contacted the Press and
Journal to spread the world that Nessie “lives” in Italy.
Escher (1898-1972) was hailed by many as one of the world’s most famous
graphic artists. His art is enjoyed by millions of people all over the world,
as can be seen on the many web sites on the internet. And for several years he
lived and travelled in Italy.
He is most famous for his so-called impossible structures, such as Ascending
and Descending, Relativity, his Transformation Prints, such as Metamorphosis I,
Metamorphosis II and Metamorphosis III, Sky & Water I or Reptiles.
Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1645086?
UserKey=#ixzz0i6QsgB2q
http://www.eschernessie.it/
The warmest place north of San Francisco might be the waters off Bodega Bay this week, where icy cold waters were still warmer than the icier cold air on land. Making things even hotter are the voracious schools of giant Humboldt squid back this season in greater numbers than anyone has ever seen.
Hah! You’re right – Middle-Claw Squid is indeed what Mesonychoteuthis means.
Bruce Marshall, our mollusc curator says there is also a spcies called onychoteuthis equimanus – meaning clawed squid with hands of the same size.
Not sure why Messie got the middle claw added – it certainly has hooks – the mysteries of scientific naming!
Check out the post on tentacles
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2008/07/17/hooks-suckers/
Hamilton’s Middle-Claw Squid? YAY!