Natural history

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"Bird and Flowers of Port Jackson"

Artist: Raper, George
Created: [1789]
Dimensions: 45.7 x 31.8 cm
Reference: Raper Drawing - no. 52

 

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Drawing of a bird in a landscape, with details of two flowering plants. The bird is depicted in frontal view with its head turned in profile to the right. It has a yellow bill and wattles on the face, black cap and side of neck, and white underparts overlaid with grey hatched lines. The wings and back are brown overlaid with darker hatched lines, and have yellow spurs at the 'wrist'. The legs are striped with mauve and black. It is standing on ground which appears to be steeply sloping and is represented by layers of grey-green washes with details of tufts of grass. To the left is a single blue daisy-like flower with a yellow centre, borne on a slender green stem with two narrow elliptic leaves towards the base and casting a shadow to the left. The plant on the right has small arrow-shaped leaves on long stems arranged alternately on a slender main stem. The flowers are pink and composed of five petals which alternate with five green sepals around a yellow centre dotted with pink. The drawing is framed with a thick black ink line and a triple-banded border, the central band of which is coloured with a pink wash and contains the title, signature and date. Most of the outer band appears to have been lost through the drawing having been cropped.

 

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