- Museum number
- 1906,0509.1.46
- Description
-
Flying fish; head to left
Watercolour over graphite heightened with bodycolour, sliver and gold
- Production date
- 1585-1593
- Dimensions
-
Height: 277 millimetres
-
Width: 234 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For an introduction to this group of drawings by John White and a list of abbreviations used in the Literature at the end, see curatorial comment for 1906,0509.1.1, the title page inscription to the album.
The following text is taken from K. Sloan, 'A New World: England's First View of America' (London, BM Publications, 2006), no.48, pp.188-9:
[NB. If you use any of the text or information below, please acknowledge the source]
'Exocoetus volitans' (Linn.)
Harriot does not mention flying fish in his account of commodities available in Virginia, as he was no doubt thinking of fish available to the colony in the coastal waters inside the Outer Banks. However, flying fish concentrate in the sea off Cape Hateras where they attract schools of dorado. They are also preyed upon by birds. They are shown with a dorado in White’s map in the sea south of Virginia and also to the east of the West Indies. Catesby included a different version in his 'Natural History of Carolina' (II, pl. 8) and noted that they were ‘good eating Fish, and are caught plentifully on the Coasts of Barbados, where at certain Seasons of the Year the Markets are supplied with them’. Their Spanish name is 'pez volador'.
Not only has the vivid blue pigment offset badly as a result of the water damage but the lead white used to colour the large wing-like fins has altered chemically to a distracting extent. The delicate transparency of the fins is much easier to read in the Sloane album version which is otherwise a direct copy. There is a crude derivative of the drawing in the corner of Boazio’s engraving of Santiago.
There is a version in the Sloane album (P&D SL,5270.21r)
The watercolour copy commissioned by Sloane before 1707 is in the British Library Add MS 5267,84
Lit.: LB1 (48); Quinn, p. 412; ECM 27; PH&DBQ 27(a); PH 27
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1958 Apr, BM, Eight centuries of landscape ... water-colours, case 39
1965 Jan 30-Feb 22, NGC, Washington, John White, no.27
1965 26 Feb- 14 Mar, NC Mus of Art, Raleigh, John White, no. 27
1965 17 Mar-5 Apr, NY, Pierpont Morgan Libr, John White, no. 27
1984 May 1- Dec 31, BL, Raleigh & Roanoke, no.75
2003 May-Sep, London, National Maritime Museum, 'Elizabeth 1'
2007 Mar-Jun, BM, 'A New World:...', no.48
2007/8 Oct-Jan, Raleigh, North Carolina Mus of History, 'A New World:...'
2008 Mar-Jun, New Haven, Yale Center for British Art, 'A New World:...'
2008 Jul-Oct, Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, 'A New World:...'
- Acquisition date
- 1866
- Acquisition notes
- The provenance given above refers to the moment when the album of drawings connected with John White was purchased by the Department of Manuscripts in what is now the British Library. The album was transferred to the Department of Prints and Drawings in 1906, where it was assigned new register numbers.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1906,0509.1.46