Natural history

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"Birds of Norfolk Island"

Artist: Raper, George
Created: [1790]
Dimensions: 48.4 x 32.5 cm
Reference: Raper Drawing - no. 69

 

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Drawing of two birds perched on a tree stump against a plain background. The bird on the left is depicted with its body pointing left and its head turned in profile to the right. It head and upperparts are predominantly black overlaid with hatched lines except for white patches on the forehead and wing. It has a red breast and white-grey underparts. The larger bird on the right is depicted in almost frontal view with its head turned in profile to the left. It is coloured dark grey overlaid with darker hatched lines, except for the head which is pale grey with a yellow patch around the eye. The bill and feet are also yellow. The tree stump is pink-brown overlaid with grey-green dots and marks, shaded to the right, and is set on a small patch of ground represented by a yellow wash with layers of green, grey and red-brown serpentine lines. 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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