Aloys Zötl (1803-1887), Squirrel, 1838, watercolour and ink on paper, signed, dated and titled, 34.5x39.5 cm (on view) Bibliography: Julio Cortázar, Il bestario di Aloys Zötl (1831-1887), Editions Franco Maria Ricci, Parma, 1972, p. 73, ill. Aloys ZOTLI A self-taught master dyer from Upper Austria, Aloys Zötl devoted his evenings and winters to a vast watercolour "bestiary". Over several decades, he patiently built up a corpus of animals in which encyclopaedic curiosity mingled with imagination, with species from elsewhere set against reconstructed backdrops. Lot 2319 depicts an arboreal rodent, probably a giant Asian squirrel, perched on a branch above a mountainous landscape. Its oversized tail, unfurled in an arabesque above its back, forms a sovereign line that concentrates the figure's energy. Here we find Zötl's own vocabulary: a clean profile, a recomposed exotic décor, precise textures and a refined sense of transparency. The precision of the fur, laid down in translucent washes, reveals the eye of a colourist trained in dyes; the light emerges from the reserves of the paper and discreet highlights. His professional practice thus nurtures a true science of colour. The second sheet (lot 2320) shows a large feline in noble profile, like an emblem, in the middle of a composite vegetation including aloes in flower, stylised trees and theatrical rocks, which evokes both memories of works of naturalia and romantic reverie. The balance between the clarity of the drawing and the softness of the washes gives the animal an almost heraldic presence. Zötl does not seek pure zoological accuracy; he composes a poetic image of the world, on the borderline between naturalist illustration and dream setting. Rediscovered in the twentieth century and hailed by André Breton as a "Surrealist by vocation", Zötl now stands out as a singular figure of the nineteenth century, whose work, with its quiet strangeness and power of invention, anticipates a modern sensibility. From a historical and market point of view, the ensemble is particularly interesting and rare: the production available is limited, with many watercolours remaining in private collections, and well-preserved, elaborately decorated sheets such as these are rare. These two works are fully in keeping with the core of the "bestiary" built up from the 1830s onwards, typical of the long-range practice on which Zötl's later reputation was based.