McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Nonpareil; painted Bunting [male]
Painted Bunting, male; Indigo Bunting, male
Passerina ciris; Passerina cyanea
P. Paillou 1755;
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 male Painted Bunting from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: North America] and a male Indigo Bunting from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: North America and as far south as Northern Colombia].
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Nonpareil; painted Bunting [male] (Passerina ciris) P. Paillou 1755;
Manuscript note on back of drawing: They were from la Vera Cruz in new Spain it call Mariposa- pintada
Scientific name: Passerina ciris; Passerina cyanea
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.