McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Campbell's Guenon
Cercopithecus campbelli
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Peter Paillou was born in London into a Huguenot family and was recognised in his own time as an eminent ‘bird painter’. In 1744 he began to paint for Taylor White and worked for him for almost thirty years, painting chiefly birds and mammals. He painted as well for Robert More, Joseph Banks, and for the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. Many of his paintings of birds were used as the basis for book illustrations, often engraved by his colleague and fellow Huguenot, Peter Mazell. Paillou was elected to the Society of Artists and in 1763 he exhibited ‘A Piece of Birds, in Watercolours; the Hen of the Wood and Cock of the Red Game’. In 1778, to considerable approval, he also showed a picture of ‘A Horned Owl from Peru’, completely made from feathers.
Drawing of a Campbell's Guenon from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: West Africa.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on back of drawing: 18 in.
Scientific name: Cercopithecus campbelli
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
18 Sabea.
Cercopithecus ex cinereo flavescens, genis longis
pilis albis. Briss. quadr 205
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
18 Sabea.
Cercopithecus coloured from ash-grey to golden-yellow, with long white hair on the cheeks. Briss. quadr 205