McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Pinche monkey
Cotton-top Tamarin
Saguinus oedipus
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 Cotton-top Tamarin from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Colombia and Panama.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Pinche monkey (Midas aedipus)
Scientific name: Cotton-top Tamarin
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
Oedipus.
Cercopethecus [Cercopithecus] minimus mexicanus, capilitio [capilliceo]
niveo L.S.N p 41. Edw. av. 195. t. 195.
Simia caudata imberbis, capillo dependente, cauda
longa nigra, a basi autem ad medium ruffa.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Primates Simia Cercopithecus
Oedipus.
The smallest mexican cercopithecus, with snow-white
hair. L.S.N. p 41. Edw. av. 195. t. 195.
The tailed, beardless simia, with hair that hangs down, and
a tail that is long and black, but red from the base to the middle.