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James Parsons (1705-1770) James Parsons was born in 1705 at Barnstable, Devon. He was brought up in Ireland and received his general education in Dublin before going to study medicine in Paris. In 1736 he moved to London where he was to remain for most of his life. His first appointment was with the anatomist James Douglas, writing papers, sketching and painting. In 1738 he became a physician to the public infirmary of St Giles. He later married Elizabeth Reynolds and they had two sons and a daughter. The Parsons’ home became a regular meeting place for people interested in science and antiquities. Parsons was a typical gentleman of the eighteenth century enlightenment, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and was a member of the Society of Antiquaries and the Society of Arts. With a wide range of interests in medicine, natural history and the arts, cases he investigated included conjoined children or a purported mermaid foetus that was displayed at Charing Cross. Parsons also had a particular interest in strange or unusual medicinal or natural history specimens. This liking for the slightly unusual attracted him to the arrival of the Indian rhinoceros in 1739, and led him to write the 1743 paper for the Philosophical Transactions. He also studied sea life and plants, both were recurrent themes in the 31 scientific papers that he wrote for Philosophical Transactions. An accomplished artist, he provided the illustrations for many of these works. Parsons died in his house in Red Lion Square on 4 April 1770,
aged sixty-five.
The rhinoceros used as the subject of this painting was drawn from a young, male rhinoceros brought by Humphry Cole from Bengal, India and transported to England by Captain Acton. The rhinoceros arrived on 1 June 1739 and was displayed in Eagle Street, Red Lion Square, London. This amazing exotic animal caused a sensation in London and paid two shillings and six pence to see it. James Parsons, while working for the London doctor, James Douglas, took the opportunity to study and draw the animal in detail. Parsons published a report with a description of the animal which was read to the Royal Society on 9 June 1743. This paper contained one of the first good descriptions of the rhinoceros with detailed notes of the animals shape and the texture of its skin. Parsons’ paper, along with his sketches and paintings,
updated the earlier inaccurate images that existed about the
rhinoceros. An earlier woodcut engraving of the rhinoceros
by Albert Dürer in 1515, depicted the animal as an armour-plated
beast, with a horn on its shoulder. This incorrect image persisted
for centuries.
Parsons made two paintings of the rhinoceros. This particular one was discovered hanging in the Mammals Section of the British Museum (Natural History) by L C Rookmaaker in July 1975 and shows the rhinoceros set in an imaginary landscape. The other painting is known to have been in the hands of Parsons widow in 1781, but since her death on 8 August 1786 its whereabouts has been unknown.
Exhibition and publication details [Parsons, J.] [17--]. Album of drawings and engravings of the rhinoceros. Illustrations, 1515-c.1760, commissioned or collected by James Douglas and William Hunter. Includes 21 red chalk drawings by James Parsons. London. [Huntarian Av.1.17, University of Glasgow] Thackray, J. C. A. (1995) A catalogue of portraits, paintings
and sculpture at the Natural History Museum London. Mansell:
London. 70pp.
References and further reading Clarke, T. H. (1973-74) The iconography of the rhinoceros from Dürer to Stubbs., Connoisseur, Vols. 183, pp. 2-13; 184, pp.113-122. Parsons, J. (1742-43) A letter from Dr Parsons to Martin Folkes, Esq., President of the Royal Society, containing the natural history of the Rhinoceros. Philosophical Transactions (Royal Society), vol. 42, pp. 523-541, pls.1-3. Rookmaaker, L. C. (1973) Captive rhinoceroses in Europe from
1500 until 1810. Bijdragen tot de dierkunde, vol.
43, pp 39-63.
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