ry to think of the very oldest painting you can. What does it depict? It might be a human being, or a cluster of hands, but chances are it is an animal. Palaeolithic cave paintings are some of the earliest surviving works of art and are full of animals. The cave system of Lascaux was transformed into the mesmerising display it is in 17,000 B.C. and is packed with representations of horses, cattle, bears and even unicorns. I have a wonderful book published by Phaidon called and there are animals in paintings, sculptures, painted vases, pieces of silver throughout,.
