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C1790
The Doubtfull Lophius.
Artist:
Rare c.18th engraving of the first illustration of the Eastern Frogfish by Sarah Stone (1760-1844). Sarah Stone’s original watercolour for this engraving is in an Album of 31 original watercolours of Australian fauna, held at the State Library of NSW; Call … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
The Doubtfull Lophius.
Date:
C1790
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Hand coloured copper engraving.
Image Size:
221mm
x 175mm
Paper Size:
283mm
x 222mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1790
Description:
Rare c.18th engraving of the first illustration of the Eastern Frogfish by Sarah Stone (1760-1844).
Sarah Stone’s original watercolour for this engraving is in an Album of 31 original watercolours of Australian fauna, held at the State Library of NSW; Call number SAFE/PXA 909/8
Modern common names: Eastern Frogfish, Blotched Toadfish, Brown Frogfish, Dubious Frogfish.
Modern binomial name: Batrachomoeus dubius
First described: White 1790
Distribution: QLD, NSW
From John White’s, Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales
References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 97.
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 1858.
Nissen, C. Die illustrierten Vogelbucher. Stuttgart 1995 ZBI 4390.
Abbey, J.R. Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860. London 1972 605.
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney 1987 17.
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 248.
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 87340
State Library New South Wales: Call Number: MRB/Q991/2A2 (Original watercolour Call number PXA 909 / 8)
National Gallery Victoria: Accession Number2012.31
State Library Victoria: CCF 919.44 W58
National Museum of Australia: Object number 2007.0035.0001
Sarah Stone (1760 - 1844)
Known as Sarah Smith or Sarah Stone, she was the daughter of a professional fan painter and worked as a natural history illustrator in England between 1777 and 1820. Like many British artists she never travelled to the Southern Hemisphere, although she is best known for her depictions of Australian subjects. Stone was commissioned by some of the great eighteenth-century collectors, including Sir Ashton Lever and Sir Joseph Banks, to prepare watercolour drawings based on specimens of animals, birds and objects brought back to England by members of recent voyages of exploration. In many cases her drawings were the first studies of certain natural history species, a fact which makes them of considerable scientific interest. Some of her watercolours recording the collections of artefacts and natural history gathered on the voyages of Captain James Cook are among the treasures of the Australian Museum in Sydney and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. As Miss Stone, 'Honorary Exhibitor’, she exhibited four paintings at the Royal Academy in 1781 and 1786: two of birds, a peacock and a group of shells. As Mrs Smith, she showed a perspective view of Sir Ashton Lever’s Museum with the London Society of Artists at Leicester House in 1791 – previously exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785.
