First Fleet artwork collection

Lizard in profile, facing to the left on a plain background. The body is painted primarily in shades of brown and olive green, with a paler stripe along the side of its belly and grey on the face, overlaid with black and grey linear detail. It has spikes on the back of the head and on the pouch under the chin. The drawing is annotated on the reverse in brown ink.

• Thomas Watling]
• The drawing is inscribed in blue pencil at top right with the number "297". This refers to the pre-1984 numbering system for the Watling Collection.
• The drawing is annotated in brown ink at upper left "+++".
• The drawing is unsigned and undated, but is in the style of Thomas Watling and has been attributed to him in Wheeler and Smith (1988).
• The drawing is annotated on the reverse in brown ink. The edges of the text have been lost through the drawing having been cropped, but what remains reads "will. When puffed out is appearance is truley Singular some thing the full beard of a jew from which it has hereobtain'd the appell the Jew Lizard - the Natives call it", followed in black ink and what appears to be a different hand, "Bid de wang". The full text is repeated on a separate sheet of paper mounted below the drawing.
• A separate sheet of laid paper measuring 8.6 x 21.5 cm. and watermarked with a design which incorporates an ornate shield containing a horn is mounted below the drawing. It is annotated in blue pencil at lower right "297", and in brown ink, "This curious Lizard (the 2nd yet seen in N. S. Wales) is about one third the size of Nature with a large bag or pouch under the lower Jaw which it delates & contracts at will - when puffed out its appearance is truly singular something re= sembling the full Beard of a Jew from which it has here obtaind the appellation of the Jew Lizard - The Natives call it Bid de wang -".
• The lizard was identified as the Bearded Dragon, Pogona barbata, by John Calaby in Wheeler and Smith (1988).
• The author of this catalogue record is Suzanne Stenning.
• By permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London)
• Two sets of transparencies held in the Natural History Museum (London) Zoology Library and Picture Library: Picture Library reference number 12362
• James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
• Data sheet available
• This drawing is reproduced in Wheeler, A. and Smith, B, (eds.) The Art of the First Fleet and other early Australian Drawings. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1988. (Plate 158, p. 152.)