Peter Brown (active 1758–1799) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

naturalist and natural history

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

of Danish ancestry who worked mainly in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Life and work

Brown was an associate of the great English naturalists

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

and

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...

. Though primarily an illustrator, he wrote the scientific descriptions of some species, such as the brightly marked North American Arctiid moth '' Haploa clymene''.BugGuide.net
''Haploa clymene''
Accessed 3 June 2007 Brown's illustrations included

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

, botanical subjects and

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...

Published works

Brown illustrated

Emanuel Mendes da Costa Emanuel Mendes da Costa (5 June 1717 – 31 May 1791) was an England, English Botany, botanist, natural history, naturalist, Philosophy, philosopher, and collector of valuable notes and of manuscripts, and of anecdotes of the literati. Da Costa b ...

's book, '' Elements of Conchology, or An Introduction to the Knowledge of Shells'' (1771). In 1776, Brown published his own work, ''New illustrations of Zoology'', "containing fifty coloured plates of new, curious, and non-descript birds, with a few quadrupeds, reptiles and insects. Together with a short and scientific description of the same", published in London by White, and in French as "''Nouvelles illustrations de zoologie, contenant cinquante planches enluminées d'oiseaux curieux, et qui non etés jamais descrits, et quelques de quadrupedes, de reptiles et d'insectes, avec de courtes descriptions systematiques''". Brown contributed to Pennant's ''Arctic Zoology'' (1784–1785).

Exhibitions and distinctions

Brown exhibited at the

Free Society of Artists The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established ...

and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

from 1770 until 1791. He was appointed to be Botanical Painter to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

in 1783. He contributed botanical illustrations to private albums of Elizabeth Montagu, wife of

George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester PC (6 April 17372 September 1788) was a British politician and diplomat. Early life He was the son of Robert Montagu, 3rd Duke of Manchester and the former Harriet Dunch. Among his siblings were Lord Cha ...

, implying that he was her drawing master and tutor. According to Christie's, his drawings "reveal an extremely high level of accomplishment".

References

Sources

* Blunt, W. (1951). ''The Art of Botanical Illustration.'' New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 151. * Whitehead, P.J.P. (1977) Emanuel Mendes da Costa (1717–91) and the Conchology, or natural history of shells. ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Historical Series'', Vol.6 (1) pp 1–24. Attribution: *

External links