"Diversion and Deception"

This is the 2nd piece I presented for the Italian Paleoart Award 2025 at Paleontologica Museum of Montevarchi.
This is a collaborative piece. I sculpted the base, the Utahraptors and the Iguanacolossus. Luca Massini modeled the cycas and worked as lookdev artist doing this renderings.

The scene, set in the Cedar Mountain Formation during the Early Cretaceous, depicts an ambush on an Iguanacolossus fortis by a pair of Utahraptor. The title specifically refers to the roles played by the two large dromaeosaurids in the ambush. The first, with jaws wide open and forelimbs outstretched, draws the attention of the herbivore, which—due to its size—does not seem particularly alarmed by the predator’s display of aggression. However, behind it, partially concealed by a cycad, a second Utahraptor moves slowly and silently, ready to strike the large herbivore from behind.

I've donated the diorama to the Paleontological Museum of Montevarchi, that exposed it at the main entrance.