McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Reindeer [male]
Reindeer, female
Rangifer tarandus
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 possible female Reindeer from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Siberia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Reindeer [male](Rangifer tarandus)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: No 3
Scientific name: Rangifer tarandus
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Tarandus
This Beast exceeds greatly the
Comon Stag in Magnitude
I believe it to be undescribed
The Male & Female are nearly
of the same height which is about
a foot higher then the stag. it
is nearly the same colour it difers
from the Stag having the Tops of
the Horns partly palmed & the
Hair of the Throat are long like
some of the goats.
Mammalia Pecora Cervus
Tarandus
Cervus cornibus ramosis recurva
-tis teretibus. sumitatibus [summitatibus] pal-
-matis. Lin: S.N. n. ed. p. 93.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Tarandus
This Beast exceeds greatly the
Comon Stag in Magnitude
I believe it to be undescribed
The Male & Female are nearly
of the same height which is about
a foot higher then the stag. it
is nearly the same colour it difers
from the Stag having the Tops of
the Horns partly palmed & the
Hair of the Throat are long like
some of the goats.
Mammalia Pecora Cervus
Tarandus
Cervus with rounded many-branched antlers
that are curved backwards and are palmate
at the tips. Lin: S.N. n. ed. p.93.