In the early 1920s, among Knight's great admirers was Dr. George Kunz, the renowned gemologist for Tiffany. Visiting Knight's studio, Kunz was struck by the fact that The Field Museum did not own any of Knight's work. Dr. Kunz worked with Knight's daughter Lucy, to secure a contract to create his biggest commission yet: a series of 28 murals to enclose the Museum's new fossil hall. The murals show the development of life on earth, from its earliest origins through the ages of amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Knight and Lucy traveled to Chicago in 1926 to begin the project. While in Chicago, Knight met the Museum's anthropologist Henry Field and accompanied him to France and Spain. The Field Museum mural project consumed four years of Knight's life, and remains today among the Museum's most popular treasures.
Image slideshow
Gallery
Protoceratops, Mesozoic era. Primitive ceratopsian dinosaur with eggs, found in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, 1922. ID# CK10T
Ground Sloths and Glyptodonts. Megatherium and Glyptodon. Middle Pleistocene period, Cenozoic era. Charles R. Knight painting or mural. ID# CK20T
Mammal-like reptiles. Carnivorous Cynognathus prepare to attack the virtually defenseless Kannemeyeria. Triassic period, Mesozoic era. ID# CK22T
Earliest records of earth life. Proterozoic era deposited sediments one and one half billion years ago. Fossils are believed to be lime secretions of minute single celled plants, similar to some of the algae that live in hot springs today. Precambrian time. ID# CK23AT
Whales of the Eocene Seas. Basilosaurus (Zeuglodon). ID# CK26T
Cave Bear. Cenozoic era. ID# CK28T
American Mastodons. Cenozoic era. ID# CK29T
Jurassic dinosaur Stegosaurus. ID# CK31T
Dinornis, extinct bird. Giant Moas. Cenozoic Era. ID# CK32T
Small four toed horses of the genus Orohippus and the much larger, but harmless Uintatherium of the Eocene. ID # CK46T
Ordovician Sea Life, two billion years ago, volcanic activity widespread, shows beached seaweeds, trilobites and cephalopods from the ocean. Cenozoic. ID# CK23BT
Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus). Late Jurassic period, Mesozoic era. ID# CK5T
Triceratops and T. rex Tyrannosaurus rex Mesozoic. ID# CK9T
Media for Photo Archives - Charles Knight Collection
Nearly two billion years ago, volcanic activity was widespread. ID# CK23T
Rancho La Brea Tar Pools, Cenozoic era. A Pleistocene panorama set at a pitch pool in California. Shown: large bird Teratornis, saber-tooth cat Smilodon, and an extinct species of horse. ID# CK8T
Late or Upper Cretaceous Seas, Mesozoic era. Marine reptile Tylosaurus; giant turtle Protostega, flying reptile Pteranodon. ID# CK24_1T
Irish Deer, Megaloceros, Cenozoic era. ID# CK1T
Archaeopteryx, Compsognathus and Rhamphorhynchus. Germany, Mesozoic, Lower Jurassic era. ID# CK39T
Early land plants: Devonian forest plants had covered the land by the middle of the Paleozoic era, 320 million years ago. ID# CK49T
Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs, Mesozoic era. Helmet-crested Corythosaurus, a herd of long-crested Parasaurolophus, and heavily armored Palaeoscincus. ID# CK13AT
Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus and Casea. Paleozoic era. Pelycosaurs of the Permian period of Texas. ID# CK45T
An early Pliocene panorama showing the swamp dwelling rhinoceros Teleoceras, the mastodont Gomphotherium, and the pig like oreodont Ustatochoetus. Cenozoic. ID# CK41T
Giant Kangaroos and wombats. Palorchestes and Diprotodon. In the Cenozoic era, marsupials predominated in Australia. Late Pleistocene time, 100,000 years ago. ID# CK27T
Oligocene Titanotheres. Hyaenodon, Brontotherium and the tortoise (turtle) Stylemys. Cenozoic era. Charles R. Knight painting or mural, installed 1931. ID# CK12T
Miocene Plains Mammals, Cenozoic era. Camel Oxydactylus, two-horned rhinoceros Menoceras, 3 (three) toed horse Parahippus, giant pig Dinohyus, mammal with claws, Moropus. Charles R. Knight painting. ID# CK19TA
Great Ground Sloth, Megatherium. Nearly elephant size, and two types of armadillo like glyptodons, spiked tailed Doedicurus and Glyptodon. Charles R. Knight painting. ID# CK21T
Lizard Tylosaurus; turtle Protostega, flying reptile Pteranodon. Late or Upper Cretaceous Seas Mesozoic; Marine reptiles. Charles R. Knight painting. ID# CK24T
Reptiles That Invaded The Seas; Plesiosaurus and Stenopterygius, fish shaped ichthyosaur. Charles Knight painting. ID# CK34T
Corals once flourished where Chicago now stands. Large reefs existed here in the Mid-Silurian time, 365 million years ago. Paleozoic era. Charles Knight painting. ID# CK50T
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Protoceratops, Mesozoic era. Primitive ceratopsian dinosaur with eggs, found in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, 1922. ID# CK10T
Photographer(s):Admin(c) (c) Field Museum of Natural History