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411811

Title
Album of original watercolours of Australian fauna, ca.1790 / Sarah Stone
Creator
Sarah Stone, approximately 1760-1844
Call number
SAFE/PXA 909
Level of description
fonds
Date

ca. 1790
Type of material
Graphic Materials, Watercolours
Reference code
411811
Issue Copy
Digitised
Physical Description
31 watercolours - on 31 sheets. - Sheet sizes measure 33.8 x 25.1 cm; drawings are within frame lines approx. 23 x 17 cm (roughly equivalent to plate size of engravings)
ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

In the mid-1980s this collection of drawings - originally numbering forty-six - were offered at a New England (USA) auction. Fifteen drawings from the sale were later acquired by the National Library of Australia (these can be seen on their image database: www.nla.gov.au), while Peter Willcox acquired these thirty-one. In a letter to the Mitchell Library dated 29 July 1998, Mr Willcox described his investigations into the provenance of the collection: 'The Connecticut [USA] auction ... took place in 1986, or soon after ... the watercolours came from the estate or family of James Anderson Junior, an American art collector, b. 1854, author of 'The unknown Turner ... '. New York, 1926.
The drawings were initially offered in the Peter Willcox Collection of Important Australian Natural History Paintings and Books, Sotheby's Melbourne, 28 November 2000, but were purchased by the Library prior to the sale.
Scope and Content
Drawings in a bound volume are titled from those given in "Journal of a voyage to New South Wales"

1. Anomalous Hornbill : Signed l.c. Sarah Smith
Now known as a Channel-billed Cuckoo
See White: pl.5 p.142
2. Cyprinaceous Labrus [and] Hippocampus
Now known as Wrasse or Parrot-fish and Sea horse
See White: pl.50 p.264
3. Knob-Fronted Bee Eater : Signed l.c. Sarah Smith.
Now known as a Friar bird
See White: pl.16 p.190
4. Hepoona Roo : Signed l.l. outside frame line S. Smith.
Now known as a Greater glider possum
See White: pl.61 p.288
5. New Holland Creeper
Now known as a White-cheeked honey eater
see White: pl.65 p.297
6. Variegated Lizard
Now known as a Goanna
see White: pl.38 p.253
7. New Holland Cassowary
Now known as an Emu
see White: pl.1 p.129
8. Doubtful Lophius
Now known as a Frog Fish
see White: pl.51 p.265
9. Blue Frog
Now known as a Green Tree frog
White: pl.33 p.248
10. Tapoa Tafa
Now known as a Brush-tailed Phascogale
see White: pl.58 p.281
11. Insects of New South Wales
Now known as Common centipede, Spider genus Isopeda, Soldier Crab, Caterpillar
see White: pl.47 p.260
12. The Scincoid, or Skinc-Formed Lizard
Now known as a Blue tongue lizard
see White: pl.30 p.242
13. Atherine, Tabacco-Pipe Fish, Remora Fish
Now known as Anchovy, Flute Mouth and Sucking fish
see White: pl.64 p.296
14. Yellowed-Eared Flycatcher
Now known as a Yellow-faced Honeyeater
see White: pl.10 p.161
15. Golden Winged Pidgeon
Now known as a Forest Bronzewing Pigeon
see White: pl.8 p.146
16. White Fulica
Now known as a White Gallinule (extinct)
see White: pl.27 p.238
17. Wattled Bee Eater
Now known as a Red Wattle-bird
see White: pl.6 p.144
18. Small Paraquet
Now known as a Little Lorikeet
see White: pl.48 p.262
19. New Holland Creeper
Now known as a New Holland honeyeater
see White: pl.15 p.186
20. Snake No.1
Now known as a Brown Snake
see White: pl.43 p.258
21. Snakes No. 1 & No.2
Now known as a Young diamond snake & a Bandy bandy
see White: pl.46 p.259
22. A Kangaroo
Now known as a Kangaroo. Possibly by Charles Catton Junr
see White: pl.54 p.272
23. White Hawke
Now known as a Grey Goshawk
see White: pl.35 p.250
24. Fuliginous Peteril
Now known as a White-chinned Petrel
see White: pl.37 p.252
25. A Kangaroo
Now known as a Kangaroo. Appears to be a Sarah Stone copy of a Charles Catton Junr. plate
see White: pl.54 p.272
26. Wattled Bee Eater female
Now known as a Little Wattle bird
see White: pl.7 p.240
27. Poto Roo or Kangaroo Rat
Now known as a Rufous Rat-kangaroo
see White: pl.60 p.286
28. A Tapoa Tafa
Now known as a Dasyurus quoll. Appears to be a Sarah Stone copy of a Charles Catton Junr. plate
see White: pl.59 p.285
29. Port Jackson Thrush
Now known as a Grey thrush [spotted quail thrush?]
see White: pl.9 p.157
30. White-Vented Crow
Now known as a Pied Currawong
see White: pl.36 p.251
31. Muricated Lizard
Now known as a Tree Dragon
see White: pl.40 p.255
Access Conditions

Access via appointment
Copying Conditions
Out of copyright: Artist died before 1955
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
General note

This collection contains thirty watercolours by Sarah Stone (ca.1760-1844) and one attributed to Charles Catton Jnr. (no.22). The drawings relate closely to the engravings in John White's "Journal of a voyage to New South Wales", published in London in 1790. White, the colony's Surgeon-General, sent a collection of natural history specimens to England in mid-1789 which were then prepared for illustration by five London artists (Frederick Nodder, Charles Catton Jr., Edward Kennion, Mortimer and Stone) by December 1789. Sarah Stone was responsible for the original drawings for forty-nine of the sixty-five plates. The book was edited by Thomas Wilson, who arranged for leading English naturalists Dr George Shaw, Dr James E. Smith and Dr John Hunter to describe the specimens. After they were prepared for publication the specimens were placed in Sir Ashton Lever's private museum (for further information on this museum and Sarah Stone, see Christine E. Jackson, "Sarah Stone : natural curiosities from the New Worlds", London, 1998).
Most of the drawings in this collection are either originals for, or presentation copies made after, the plates. Two are signed "Sarah Smith", and one "S. Smith." Stone married John Langdale Smith on 8 September 1789. The fact that plates such as the "Cassowary of New South Wales" (PXA 909/7) is a near identical copy to the engraving in "Journal of a voyage to New South Wales" suggests that at least some of these drawings were made after the publication of the book. However they have been made with reference back to the original specimens as the drawings always depict more detail than the engravings, particularly in the texture and construction of fur and feathers.
Thirty of the drawings are on a heavily sized paper characteristically used by Stone, and their colouring and technique is very close to a copy of "Journal of voyage to New South Wales", now in the Mathews Collection, National Library of Australia, which was hand-coloured by Stone herself.
Only one drawing - PXA 909/22 "Kangaroo" - is on unsized paper, and this drawing has been attributed to Charles Catton Jnr. However the engraving in of the kangaroo in "Journal of a voyage to New South Wales", with a "C. Catton Junr delin" imprint, relates more to no.25 of this album, which is appears to be by Stone and is on her characteristic sized paper. It is likely that this drawing is a copy by Stone of the Catton plate. Indeed the engraving combines the foreground detail of PXA 909/22 with the animal depicted in PXA 909/25.
This collection is described in the Peter Willcox Collection of Important Australian Natural History Paintings and Books, Lot 8, Sotheby's Melbourne 28 November 2000.
Digital order no:Album ID : 823416
30 of the sheets (not no. 22) are heavily sized. Each drawing is surrounded by a thin wash frame line. Tipped, with interleaving, probably in the late-1980s, into early nineteenth-century full calf boards, with elaborate gilt tooling.
Signatures / Inscriptions

No. 1 is signed l.c. Sarah Smith
No. 3 is signed l.c. Sarah Smith
No. 4 is signed l.l. outside frame line S. Smith

Willcox collector's label is pasted onto inside front-endpaper.
Creator/Author/Artist
Catton, Charles, 1756-1819
Subject
Ornithological illustration.
Topic
natural history illustrations
Exhibited in

In the garden - Parramatta Heritage Centre
Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales (April 2004 - March 2005)