Virginia Deer by Gertrude Karlan

We see at close range a female of Odocoileus virginianus, also known as white-tailed deer. Their range encompasses most of the United States, and they are the most numerous of that family here. Karlan’s painting depends less upon its anatomical accuracy than the proximity at which we view a living Virginia deer; her effect is that of extending a short, but unforgettable, moment of beholding one in the wild before the deer raises its white tail in alarm, and then is gone.