Peter Brown (fl. 1758-1799)
Peter Brown was a significant natural history artist of the eighteenth century. At the height of his success he was court painter to the Prince of Wales. It is not certain if Brown studied as a pupil of Georg Ehret (1708-1770), the famous botanical artist from Germany, but he was most certainly influenced by his work. Brown contributed to some of the most important published works in natural history of the late eighteenth century including Thomas Pennant’s (1726-1798) Arctic Zoology (1784-5). In 1776, he published his own work New illustrations of Zoology, which contained fifty hand-coloured plates with descriptions of birds and mammals. In the mid 1760s, Brown accepted a commission from Emanuel Medes da Costa (1717-1791), conchologist and palaeontologist, to complete watercolour drawings of shells for his work Conchology, or Natural History of Shells (1771). The plates that were engraved for this work however failed to capture the delicate beauty that Brown managed to create. Brown’s drawings are enhanced by the translucence of the vellum on which they have been painted. Brown exhibited at the Free Society of Artists
and the Royal Academy between 1766 –1791.
Conchology is the scientific study of the shells of mollusks. Mollusks are in important food source and their shells have many uses including tools, musical instruments, currency and jewellery.
The Peter Brown Drawings Collection The collection consists of 17 original watercolours
painted on vellum. The collection was purchased
by the Natural History Museum in 1925.
Exhibition and publication details This drawing has not previously been on public
display.
References and further reading Whitehead, P.J.P. (1977) Emanuel Mendes da Costa
(1717-91) and the Conchology, or natural history
of shells. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural
History) Historical Series, Vol.6 (1) pp 1-24.
|
