Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom
Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom: An Exposition of the Laws of Disguise Through Color and Pattern; Being a Summary of Abbott H. Thayer's Discoveries is a book published ostensibly by Gerald H. Thayer in 1909, and revised in 1918, but in fact a collaboration with and completion of his father Abbott Handerson Thayer's major work.
Cover of first edition
Angel, oil painting by Abbott Thayer, 1887
Abbott Thayer introduced the concept of Countershading in the book
Title page of first edition
Abbott Handerson Thayer was an American artist, naturalist, and teacher. As a painter of portraits, figures, animals, and landscapes, he enjoyed a certain prominence during his lifetime, and his paintings are represented in major American art collections. He is perhaps best known for his 'angel' paintings, some of which use his children as models.
Thayer c. 1890
A Virgin (1892–93), painted allusion to Winged Victory of Samothrace
Monadnock in Winter, 1904, oil on canvas
Angel, 1887, oil on canvas. Smithsonian American Art Museum