McGill Library
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Guinea Baboon
Papio papio
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
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 Buinea Baboon from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: West Africa.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Papio papio
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
16 Cynocephalus.
Cercopithecus cynocephalus ex viridescentibus &
flavicantibus pilis. Briss. quadr. 213.
Cercopethecus [Cercopithecus] Johns. quadr. t. 59. f. ultima.
Simius cynochelus alter Alp. aegypt. t. 16.
Simia Caudata imberbis flavescens, ore producto
cauda recta, natibus calvis. L.S.N. p. 38.
Habitat in Africa.
Simillima S. Muo. sed caudata.
Facie auribus pedibus que nigris. unguibus humanis.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
16 Cycnocephalus
Cercopithecus cynocephalus [Dog-headed...] with hair coloured from green to golden yellow. Briss. quadr. 213.
Cercopethecus [Cercopithecus] Johns. quadr. t. 59. f. ultima.
Simius cynochelus alter Alp. aegypt. t. 16.
The tailed, beardless, golden-yellow Simia, with a drawn-out mouth, straight tail, and hairless rump. L.S.N. p. 38
It lives in Africa.
It is most similar to the S. Muo but it has a tail;
with a black face, ears, and feet, and human-like nails.