[1] The Age of Reptiles was at one time the largest painting in the world, and depicts a span of nearly 350 million years in Earth's history.

[4] Zallinger sketched out his plan for the mural on a 10-foot-long (3.0 m) sheet of rag paper, which could be unrolled to edit individual sections.

The position of entrances to the hall and the sequence of which Peabody's fossils are arranged made the mural be "read" from right to left, instead of the customary direction.

Though rarely used because of the difficulties of using egg tempera, fresco-secco allowed Zallinger to delineate character as well as create a painting with good durability.

[9] Despite its somewhat outdated view of dinosaurs, The Age of Reptiles is still notable for its historical and artistic merit and as the largest natural history painting in the world.