Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10533
Looking for a special gift? Buy a print of this image.
‘The Patagonian Penguin’
Date
1792
Creator
James Fittler (1758 - 1835, British) , Engraver
After
Charles Reuben Ryley (1747 - 1798, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
R63366
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 280mm
width (print): 216mm
width (print): 216mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Ornithological study of a King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus), shown in a landscape with a colony of other birds in the background.
Plate 34 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 that: “This curious species is a native of the southern hemisphere, and is principally found about [the] Falkland Islands.”
The plate is inscribed: “C.R.Ryley del. J.Fittler sculp. PINGUINARIA PATACHONICA. THE PENGUIN. Published. as the Act directs.July 2. 1792. by I.Parkinson. Leverian Museum.”
Plate 34 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 that: “This curious species is a native of the southern hemisphere, and is principally found about [the] Falkland Islands.”
The plate is inscribed: “C.R.Ryley del. J.Fittler sculp. PINGUINARIA PATACHONICA. THE PENGUIN. Published. as the Act directs.July 2. 1792. by I.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