• Title
  Watercolour of Black Swan, attributed to Port Jackson Painter
• Call number
  SSV/210
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1790s
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Watercolours
• Reference code
  9673361
• Physical Description
  1 watercolour - on wove paper - irregular sheet 18 x 23 cm
  
• Collection history
  Incomplete inscription verso of watercolour suggests a provenance to Susanna Nicolet Gordon (1748-1831), the Swiss-born wife of Robert Jacob Gordon (1743-1795), a Dutch naturalist, explorer and Commandant of the garrison at Cape Town in South Africa between 1780 and 1795. GFL Fine Art, Nedlands, Western Australia, Autumn 2022 Art Auction, 24 May 2022, Lot 108. Attributed by auction house to Port Jackson Painter. Reference: Library correspondence file
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Unsigned.
  Partial ink inscription in French verso of watercolour:
  ‘…don de Madame Gordon a Esbom - femme du Colonel commandant - de la garrison /
  - J'ai fait le voiage d’Amsterdam au Cap avec elle – Apris la mort de son mari /
  est revenue avec ses trois fils en Europe – Ce Cigne est l’ouvrage de Mr Weber /
  Captain Cok[?], Clerk et Goure avec qui j'ai dine au Cap, a leur retour des Is... /
  Baron de Plettenberg, Gouveneur alors du Cap….Ils soient[?] /
  objets interessans et courieuse – Mr Gordon le premier a donné une descrip... /
  Mr de Buffon rectifia son ouvrage, d’apres le dessien[?] de celle quel avait /
  Cabinet du prince d’Orange a la Hage[?]'
  
  ‘…gift of Madame Gordon to Esbom – wife of the Colonel Commandant of the garrison /
  I travelled from Amsterdam to Cape Town with her – After the death of her husband /
  came back with her three sons to Europe – this Swan is the work of Mr Weber /
  Captain Cok, Clerk and Goure with whom I dined in Cap on their return from Is... /
  Baron de Plettenberg, Governor then of the Cap – They [are] /
  interesting and curious objects – Mr Gordon was the first, to give a descript[ion] /
  Mr de Buffon rectified...his work after the design of that which /
  Cabinet of the Prince of Orange had at the Hague'
  
  Word loss in inscription due to trimming of sheet at unknown date. Indecipherable pencil inscription verso of watercolour.
  
  Source:
  Transcription and translation by State Library of New South Wales staff, April 2023.
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  Incomplete inscription verso of watercolour attributes the work to Mr Weber (i.e. John Webber). Date of work and stylistic comparisons make this attribution unlikely.
  Attributed by GFL Fine Art in 2022 to Port Jackson Painter and by vendor to Sydney Bird Painter in 2023.
  
  Similar depictions of black swans comparable to this watercolour include:
  
  [Watling Drawing - no. 351 : "Black Swan", native name "Mulgo" Port Jackson Painter],
  between 1788 and 1792
  Held in the collections of the Natural History Museum, London - https://nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44NHM_INST/1afpmgq/alma9925679002081
  Similar to this watercolour, the black swan is depicted in profile, facing right, with wings raised.
  
  Black Swan / attributed to the artist of volume SAFE/PXD 226 (Mitchell Library Reference) [Sydney Bird Painter]
  Christies, Australian and European Paintings, Prints and Photographs, 7 December 1994, lot 63. Formerly in the collection of the Vizard Foundation, Australia.
  Attributed to the Sydney Bird Painter, this depiction of a black swan is in profile, facing right, with wings raised.
  
  Black swan (Cygnus atratus), 1790s / [attributed to Sydney Bird Painter]
  Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
  Previously sold by Christies, Australian and European Paintings, Prints and Photographs, 7 December 1994, lot 71.
  This second depiction of a black swan attributed to the Sydney Bird Painter differs from the watercolour and the works listed above - the black swan is depicted in profile, facing left, and does not have raised wings.
  
  Based on stylistic comparisons of works attributed to Sydney Bird Painter and Port Jackson Painter, the watercolour has been attributed to Port Jackson Painter by Louise Anemaat, Executive Director, Library & Information Services and Dixson Librarian, May 2023.
  
  Reference:
  Library correspondence file
• Date note
  
  Undated.
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Port Jackson Painter, active 1788-1792
  
• Subject
  Birds--Australia--Pictorial works.
  Black swan.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20614847

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