Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10524
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‘The Magellanic Vulture, or Condor’
Date
1791
Creator
William Skelton (1763 - 1848, British) , Engraver
After
Philip Reinagle (1749 - 1833, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
R63366
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 216mm
width (print): 280mm
width (print): 280mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Ornithological study of a condor, presumably the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), shown in a coastal landscape devouring a young seal.
Plate 1 from Museum Leverianum containing select specimens from the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever...by George Shaw (published by James Parkinson, 1792).
The accompanying text states of the original specimen that: “It was brought from the Straits of Magellan, and the circumstance of its not having the least appearance of a comb on the head...incline me to suppose it a young bird, and most probably a female”.
The plate is inscribed: “Reinagle delt. Skelton sculpt. VULTUR MAGELLANICUS. THE GREAT MAGELLANIC VULTURE, OR CONDOR. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.1 1791 by J.Parkinson. Leverian Museum”.
Plate 1 from Museum Leverianum containing select specimens from the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever...by George Shaw (published by James Parkinson, 1792).
The accompanying text states of the original specimen that: “It was brought from the Straits of Magellan, and the circumstance of its not having the least appearance of a comb on the head...incline me to suppose it a young bird, and most probably a female”.
The plate is inscribed: “Reinagle delt. Skelton sculpt. VULTUR MAGELLANICUS. THE GREAT MAGELLANIC VULTURE, OR CONDOR. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.1 1791 by J.Parkinson. Leverian Museum”.
Object history
The natural historian George Shaw (1751-1813) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. His book, from which this plate is taken, was an account of the collection built up by Sir Ashton Lever FRS (1729-1788). The museum was originally at Leicester House, London and was displayed publically after Lever’s death, moving to a rotunda building near Blackfriars Bridge.
Associated place