Tate Britain borrowed the original watercolour for their Tate Britain Watercolour Exhibition from 16 February until 21 August 2011.
The painting is by Edward Lear who is better known for his nonsense poems. He was a renowned zoological artist and we have previously featured some of his other works as `Artefacts' including http://www.zsl.org/blogs/artefact-of-the-month/edward-lears-parrots in October 2010.
This painting was the basis of a lithographic print in featured in Volume 1 of the Transactions of the Zoological Society accompanying an article by E.T. Bennett describing a new species of kangaroo, Macropus parryi. The full reference to this article is:
BENNETT, E. T. (1835), Some Account of Macropus Parryi, a hitherto undescribed Species of Kangaroo from New South Wales. The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 1: 295–300. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1835.tb00627.x Publication History Issue published online: 6 JUL 2010 Article first published online: 6 JUL 2010 Communicated December 23, 1834 The article can be viewed Link to PDF of this document for Journal of Zoology subscribers
Tate Britain also borrowed Volume III of John Gould's A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds, London : published by the author, 1849-61 in five volumes plus supplement, a virtual copy can be viewed in the Blackburn Pavilion at ZSL London Zoo.
Visting the Library
If you are a member of ZSL, please bring your ZSL membership card when visiting the Library. If you are not a member you will need to show proof of address and photographic ID.
Although much of the Library is open access, an appointment is needed to view historic books and archives. Please email library@zsl.org to make an appointment or telephone 02074496293
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