When Dutch navigator, Willem de Vlamingh, discovered black swans in Western Australia in 1697, he blew apart the European belief that all swans are white. This challenge to conventional thinking is now used as a metaphor to describe events that come as a surprise, have a major effect, and are often, later, inappropriately rationalised. Such events may include the rise of the Internet, the personal computer, World War I, and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
This bird, widely distributed through wetland across Australia, is perched on a gorgeous pedestal, made by Charles-Guillaume Diehl (1867) or France. Diehl was widely celebrated, but also described as a "strange artist" and as an "enterprising man with spontaneity'.
The background is an adaptation of part of a tree of life tapestry by late 19th century UK designer William Morris.
- Subject Matter: swan