McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Serval
Leptailurus serval
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 Serval from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Central America and South America.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Catus onceus maculatus
Scientific name: Leptailurus serval
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Ferae Felis
Felis Maculatus
Felis Cauda elongata.
colore rufo palente [pallescente] nigro
maculato sed linea dorsali nigra
& maculis fuscis marginibus nigris
in humeris striato.
Magnitudo major quam felis
Domesticus.
Habitat Africa.
The Spoted Mountain Cat
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Ferae Felis
Felis Maculatus
Felis with an elongated tail,
pale red body with black
patches but a black line on the back;
and furrowed with tawny patches
with black borders on the shoulders.
It is larger than the
domestic cat.
It lives in Africa.
The Spot[t]ed Mountain Cat