This art work was commissioned by parents of my good friend Julia. At the moment Im living in Bavarian alps and there is a lot of local folk legends and stories around which I love to listen.
I always liked unexplained and weird stories.
Painting title: Wolpertinger
Technique: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 60cmx90cm
It has a body comprising various animal parts-generally wings, antlers, a tail, and fangs, all attached to the body of a small mammal. The most widespread description portrays the Wolpertinger as having the head of a hare, the body of a squirrel, the antlers of a deer, and the wings and occasionally the legs of a pheasant.
Stuffed "wolpertingers", composed of parts of actual stuffed animals, are often displayed in inns or sold to tourists as souvenirs in the animals' "native regions". The Deutsche Jagd- und Fischereimuseum in Munich, Germany features a permanent exhibit on the creature.
It resembles other creatures from German folklore, such as the Rasselbock of the Thuringian Forest, the Dilldapp of the Alemannic region, and the Elwedritsche of the Palatinate region, which accounts describe as a chicken-like creature with antlers; additionally the American Jackalope as well as the Swedish Skvader somewhat resemble the wolpertinger. The Austrian counterpart of the wolpertinger is the raurakl.
According to the folklore, Wolpertingers can be found in the forests of Bavaria. Variant regional spellings of the name include Wolperdinger, Woipertingers, and Volpertinger. They are part of a larger family of horned mammals that exist throughout the Germanic regions of Europe, such as the Austrian Raurackl, which is nearly identical to the German Wolpertinger.
Text copied from Wikipedia
Here the basic stories stops, so I painted the basic creature and add to the legend that the creature is laying eggs in old tree trunks full of gold. I also put Amanita mushrooms in as motive so the picture has philosophical connection (the old Vikings were using them for visions and probably fun:). In the background tree trunk, there is also Algiz rune ᛉ.
Wolpertinger is always depicted as cute, so my visual version of creature is more sinister and dangerous... Greed is the trap for foolish people who decide to hunt the Wolpertinger.
Shope papilloma virus is a virus of rabbits similar to HPV in humans. It causes keratinous carcinomas, typically on or near the animal's head. These tumors can become large enough that they interfere with the rabbits feeding, and in extreme cases can cause starvation. It is believed that sightings of these rabbits may have inspired the myth of the Jackalope- a rabbit with antlers, and the Wolpertinger, a similar mythical animal.
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