Some Further Pictorial Evidence of Old West European Foxes

 Considering there have been any number of wars and revolutions throughout Europe it is probably not surprising that dogma -ie. that Vulpes vulpes, the red fox, is the only fox we have ever had.  The same can be said regarding wild cats but that is a subject for another time.  

Here, just to try to prove the point regarding Old British and West European foxes I present some of the best contemporary evidence we have -artwork.

A satirical British piece from 7th January 1784 (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

Below and enlargement and although the artist was not that great at drawing a badger his illustration of a fox is quite accurate and he had probably at least seen foxes. Note the lack of black and white colouring to the fur. (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

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FOX HUNTING 18th CENTURY PEEPSHOW BY MARTIN ENGELBRECHT
Augsburg,  This is what we would call today a pop-up book (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

Notice the look of the fox as a uniform brown colour -common in French, German, Belgian and Dutch paintings so from the 1700s on the Old European foxes began to vanish and there are plenty of paintings of them(c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

Below: an enlargement from Beatus de Saint-Sever Alpha France, Saint-Sever, XIe siècle, avant 1072  (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

Below the original Beatus de Saint-Sever Alpha France, Saint-Sever, XIe siècle, avant 1072 that the above enlargement is taken from  (c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study

We begin to see changes in the fox and its colouration as we get into the 1600s in some parts of Europe.

Above: Paul de Vos / 'Zorra corriendo', 17th century, Flemish School, Oil on canvas, 84 cm x

81 cm, P01865. Museum: MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN. Note how black and white colouration is now appearing in the fox coat.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. He held the position of intendant at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des plantes. Born: 7 September 1707, Montbard, France Died: 16 April 1788, Paris, France

(c) 2023 British Fox and Canid Study  Buffon is famous for his paintings of wildlife and in the above illustration we can see the brown fox colouration but with white and some features we would later see in red foxes. With his expertise as well as artistic eye we can accept this as a fox Buffon saw.

Add these to those presented previously and it does show a very rough time period for the change from Old West European fox to the gradual moving in of the red fox; it also shows that British foxes and European foxes (Old) were very similar in appearance.

https://foxwildcatwolverineproject.blogspot.com/2023/10/pictorial-evidence-for-existence-of-old.html