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Port Jackson Painter This image has been attributed to the Port Jackson Painter, a generic term applied to one or more unknown watercolour artists working in Sydney, Australia from 1788 through to the 1790s.
This charming image of a short-beaked (or common) echidna or spiny anteater of Australia comes from the Watling Collection and is thought to have been drawn in Australia between 1788 and 1792. The drawing is particularly important because it was used as the basis for the first scientific description of the echidna made by George Shaw (1751-1813), an assistant keeper of natural history in the British Museum. The original drawing probably reached England, along with others that had been commissioned by John White (c.1756-1832), surgeon-general to the settlement in New South Wales. There is evidence that Shaw gained access to these invaluable drawings of previously unknown animals from Australia via the amateur naturalist, Thomas Wilson, a close friend of White's. Shaw's notes and two copies of the drawing, one probably a tracing of the original drawing, and the other a coloured drawing with descriptive notes, are contained in a volume of his original sketches held in the General Library of the Natural History Museum. In these sketches, Shaw paraphrases the annotation on the reverse of the original drawing: 'this animal was found on a large red ant-hill; it seems to live on them, therefore we called it the ant-eating Porcupine', information he attributes to John White. The first description of the echidna appeared in volume 3 of Shaw's The Naturalist's Miscellany (London, 1792). It was accompanied by an engraved copy of the drawing by Frederick Polydore Nodder (1767-1800), for which Shaw's coloured copy of the original drawing, along with his descriptive notes, appears to have served as the model. The drawing was more recently identified by John Calaby (in Smith & Wheeler, 1988) as the Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus).
The Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)is a remarkable animal found in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. Its coat is black to light brown with spines on the back and sides. The female lays one egg, which hatches after about ten days. The baby then remains dependant on its mother's milk for up to six months, during which time it stays in the nursery burrow while the mother goes foraging. After about a year, it becomes independent and will move out to occupy its own home range. The echidna's mouth is at the end of its snout; it extends its long tongue to catch ants and termites. Its sense of smell is excellent and it uses its long snout to probe the undergrowth and leaf litter for food. Although the echidna is usually a solitary animal and is rarely seen, researchers continue to uncover more information about this remarkable animal. Find out more about the echidna.
The Thomas Watling Drawings Collection The Drawings Collection of Thomas Watling contains 512 original watercolour drawings of the aboriginal peoples, animals, plants, scenery and maps in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia, c.1788-1794. Watling, of Scottish birth, had been convicted of forgery and sentenced at Dumfries in April 1789 to 14 years transportation. After escaping the convict ship at Cape Town, he was recaptured and eventually reached at Port Jackson, New South Wales, on 7 October 1792. Many drawings in the Watling Collection are not in fact by Thomas Watling. The works of at least three distinct artists can be observed in the collection. Some paintings have been attributed to Port Jackson Painter, a term applied to one or more unknown watercolour artists working in Sydney, Australia from 1788 through to the 1790s. Some of the drawings, including the echidna featured here, appear to pre-date Watling's arrival in Australia.
Exhibition and publication details Gruber, Jacob W. (1982) What is it? The echidna comes to England. Archives of natural history, Vol.11, pp.1-15. Nelson, E. C. (1998) John White AM, MD FLS (c.1756-1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales : a new biography of the messenger of the echidna and waratah. Archives of natural history, vol. 25, no. 2, pp.149-212. Shaw, G. and Nodder, F. P. (1792) The Naturalist's Miscellany.
Volume 3 : London. A detailed catalogue record for the drawing can also be found by searching the Natural History Museum Library Catalogue.
References and further reading Augee, M. L. & Gooden, B. ; illustrated by Musser, A. (1993) Echidnas of Australia and New Guinea. (Australian natural history series) New South Wales University Press: Kensington, N.S.W. 76pp. Beard, L. A. & Grigg, G. C. (2000) Reproduction in the short-beaked echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus: field observations at an elevated site in south-east Queensland. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 122, pp.89-99. Hackforth-Jones, J. (1977) The Convict Artists. South Macmillan: Melbourne. 96pp. Kerr, Joan (ed) The Dictionary of Australian Artists: Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870. Oxford University Press: Melbourne ; Oxford. 889p. Macdonald, D. & Norris, S. (eds) (2001) The New Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press: Oxford. 930pp. Rismiller, P. (1999) The Echidna: Australia's Enigma.
Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc.: Distributed by Publishers
Group West: [Southport, Conn.]. 128pp. |
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