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Panel 2    Brilliant Curiosities

Pennantian Parrot

Sarah Stone (1761/621844)
Pennantian Parrot Psittacus pennantii c.1790
Modern common name: Crimson Rosella
Modern scientific name: Platycercus elegans
watercolour; 23 x 17.2 cm
plate 6 of Natural History Specimens of New South Wales 1790
National Library of Australia
R11201

Sarah Stone, painter and natural history illustrator, was commissioned by some of the great eighteenth-century collectors, including Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Ashton Lever, to prepare watercolour drawings of animals, birds and objects brought back to England by members of exploration voyages. Despite having only skins to work from and never seeing her subjects in their natural habitat, she nevertheless managed to capture the liveliness of the birds she painted.


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