McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Jaguar
Leopard
Panthera pardus
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 Leopard from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Africa and Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Jaguar (Felisonca)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: III Fora. Folii 4, Onca, corpore flaurconte maculis nigris rotundato angulatis modis flavis
Scientific name: Panthera pardus
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Ferae Felis
Onca
Felis cauda mediocri.
corpore flavescente
ocelis [maculis] nigris rotundo-angulatis
medio flavis in parte superiore
sed maculis rotundis parte
inferiore
The once
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Ferae Felis
Onca
Felis with a middling-sized tail,
a golden-yellow body,
black rounded-angular patches
that are golden-yellow in the middle on the upperparts of the body,
but rounded patches on the
underparts.
The once