Franz Murr (1887 – 1964)

He was considered an introverted and quiet person, was a painter and possessed exceptional skills in the field of scientific illustration. He drew for the Kronen-Verlag Erich Cramer for many years. His works captivate with the highest attention to detail. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest animal artists of his generation.

He spent three years of his life in Argentina, where he recorded his impressions of the birds and fish living there in watercolours. His artwork can be found in the KOSMOS publishing house (1955), in the publishing house Bernd Meise (Naturgeschichte der Vögel, 1959) and in contributions of the Ornithological Society of Bavaria. For the latter, he also drew their logo, the Nutcracker. The beginning of the cooperation between him and the Kronen-Verlag dates back to the 1950s. He produced numerous originals for the Central European Birds and the Mammals work of the Kronen-Verlag.

Sometimes there were difficult assignments to master. For example, Franz Murr noted: "Enclosed you will find drawing 44 “Gürtelmaus” (armadillo mouse), unfortunately somewhat delayed, as the animal caused great difficulties. It is, after all, one of the most difficult animals to depict, especially since it lives completely underground and comes to the surface only very rarely and supposedly only once at night."