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Common loon
Common Loon, Great Northern Loon
Gavia immer
P. Paillou July 1754.
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 Common Loon--also known as a Great Northern Loon--from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: North America and Europe].
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Common loon (Gavia immer) P. Paillou July 1754.
Manuscript note on back of drawing: [Sketch of specimen with measurement scale]
Scientific name: Gavia immer
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Colymbus
Glacialis
5 Colymbus pedibus palmatis tetra-
-dactylis, capite colloq[ue] nigro-
-violaceo, fascia gulae cervicis alba
interupta [interrupta].
Habitat in Mari Arctico
Lin: S. N. 222 ed. nov.
The Greatest Artick Lombe
or Diver.
No. 36.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Colymbus
Glacialis
5 Colymbus with four-toed palmate feet,
a purplish-black head and neck,
and an interrupted white band
on the throat and nape.
It lives on the Arctic Sea.
Lin: S. N. 222 ed. nov.
The Greatest Artick Lombe
or Diver.
No. 36.
Image
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