"Unicorn and Canis Major" Poster

Canis Major, or Le Grand Chien, contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Its name in Latin means "greater dog" in contrast to Canis Minor, the "lesser dog". You can see them represented as following the constellation of Orion, the hunter, through the sky. Monoceros, the unicorn, lies between the two dogs. According to Greek mythology, Laelaps was a dog that always caught whatever it hunted. In a famous myth, the dog was always sent to hunt the Teumessian fox, a fox that could never be caught. Realizing that they were doomed to be the hunter and the hunted for eternity, Zeus turned them both to stone then placed them in the sky as the constellations of Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (the Teumessian fox). Ironically, they continue the chase in an eternal hunt, with Canis Minor rising in the winter skies about an hour before Canis Major. This is a fine reproduction from the 1700s, which we have restored to bring the original colors out. The poster is printed on thick,