Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10020
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‘The Barbary Ape’ [Barbary macaque]
Date
1790
Creator
James Sowerby (1757 - 1822, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
Tracts/X51/10
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 266mm
width (print): 212mm
width (print): 212mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of the Barbary macaque Macaca sylvanus, native to North Africa and Gibraltar. The animal is shown seated, with a wooded landscape behind and a thistle in the foreground.
Plate 1 from the book Speculum Linnaeanum: or Linnean zoology; containing a complete illustration of the zoological part of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus...by George Shaw, the figures by James Sowerby (London, 1790). The monkey is described in the text: “This animal is the common Barbary ape; which generally grows to about the height of four feet...Its colour is olivaceous brown; the face flesh-coloured. The hands and feet have nails resembling the human, and it is destitute of a tail...It is a native of Africa, and is often found in Barbary.”
Plate 1 from the book Speculum Linnaeanum: or Linnean zoology; containing a complete illustration of the zoological part of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus...by George Shaw, the figures by James Sowerby (London, 1790). The monkey is described in the text: “This animal is the common Barbary ape; which generally grows to about the height of four feet...Its colour is olivaceous brown; the face flesh-coloured. The hands and feet have nails resembling the human, and it is destitute of a tail...It is a native of Africa, and is often found in Barbary.”
Associated place