National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 61 | February 2003


World-travelling Magpie Comes Home

J. (Jacques) Arago, 1790–1855. Voyage de l’Uranie, Oiseaux, Yellow and Black Bird of New Holland
J. (Jacques) Arago, 1790–1855
Voyage de l’Uranie, Oiseaux, Yellow and Black Bird of New Holland
watercolour and pencil; image 20.3 x 26.5 cm.,
on sheet 27.8 x 33.7 cm
nla.pic-an24283379
Antoine-Germain Bevalet, 1779–1850. Voyage de l’Uranie, Oiseaux, Cassican Fluteur, White-backed Magpie
Antoine-Germain Bevalet, 1779–1850. Voyage de l’Uranie, Oiseaux, Cassican Fluteur, White-backed Magpie
watercolour and pencil; image
26.8 x 18.8 cm., on sheet 37.6 x 29.5 cm
nla.pic-an24283548

Also among the items from the Freycinet Collection purchased at the Christie’s auction was a watercolour of an Australian magpie painted in France in the early 1820s. This much-travelled bird had the honour of having its portrait painted by the French artist Antoine-Germain Bevalet. And it truly is a portrait—not taken from a dead specimen but drawn from a live creature with a light in its eye, a sheen to its feathers and the confidence typical of its species.

The voyage of the Uranie, captained by Louis de Freycinet from 1817 to 1820, called into Port Jackson in 1819. The magpie was probably captured at this time, and added to a collection of plants and animals intended to be taken to France. The French voyages to Australia and the South Pacific were distinguished by a predilection for the removal of live animals as well as plants. They were destined for study in France’s museums and academies or to grace the gardens of patrons. Sadly, many of the animals on the 1817–20 expedition, including an echidna, did not survive an incident in which Freycinet’s ship was damaged in the Falkland Islands. The hardy magpie, however, completed the voyage and lived on in Paris for several years.

Other watercolours acquired in the same auction lot depict a yellow and black honey-eater and two parrots. In addition, the Library was fortunate enough to acquire Lot 92, which depicts an Aboriginal burial ceremony in the Sydney region in 1819. This drawing was made in France and based on a sketch now lost; it is the closest existing representation of the original image.

Digitised images of these drawings may be viewed on the <Catalogue>.
—Linda Groom, Curator of Pictures

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