Princess Parrot, Polytelis alexandrae
Neville Henry Cayley1885 - 1895
Museums Victoria
Carlton, Australia
This watercolour of the Princess Parrot, Polytelis alexandrae, was produced to accompany the description of the species in the official report of the Horn Expedition 1895.
In 1894, William Augustus Horn, a wealthy South Australian pastoralist and miner, organised an exploration of central Australia. The Victorian government commissioned Walter Baldwin Spencer, Professor of Biology at the University of Melbourne, to participate as the expedition zoologist. Spencer not only joined the group on its arduous journey but also edited a major publication of its results.
The Horn Expedition is the most comprehensive record of a scientific expedition undertaken in Australia in the 19th century. Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer was the leader of the expedition and the principal editor of the official account. The four volumes are made up of the Narrative, Zoology, Geology and Botany, and Anthropology. The reports were written by the notable Australian scientists of the day, including Spencer himself, Professor Ralph Tate, J.A. Watts, J.H. Maiden, E.C. Stirling, Alfred J. North, Waiter Frogatt, and Edgar Waite. G. A. Keartland was the ornithologist on the expedition.
Many of the species represented are now considered extinct or threatened, making the examples from the expedition a unique resource for research and education. Under agreement, the expedition's specimens were dispersed across several institutions.
- Title: Princess Parrot, Polytelis alexandrae
- Creator Lifespan: 1853 - 1903
- Creator Nationality: English
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Creator Birth Place: Kent, United Kingdom
- Date Created: 1885 - 1895
- Type: Image
- Rights: Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: Neville HP Cayley, Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: Neville HP Cayley
- External Link: Museum Victoria
- Medium: Watercolour on paper
- Themes: Artworks
- Artist biography: Neville H. P. Cayley, the father of the acclaimed Australian artist Neville William Cayley was born in England from where he immigrated to New South Wales. In his newly adopted country, based in Sydney, he quickly established for himself as a wildlife artist. Within a short period he became well known and admired for the quality and accuracy of his art as well as becoming proficient at producing numerous artworks on the subject of birds. Selling his art was not difficult and many were often sold through auction houses.He worked on paper using watercolour and/or gouache. The results of many of his artworks points rather towards the less glossy, or less brilliantly coloured bird species; still they are classic in providing a sharp and accurate image of the subject. All possess very high detail while using his characteristic shaping of the birds; this style was adopted and freely copied by his son Neville William who himself was to become a leader in the art of natural history illustration of Australian wildlife. Many of Cayley Seniors artworks reflect the popular subject of hunting; numerous examples showing of a brace of birds exist. The artworks were eagerly purchased by a large hunting fraternity. He often branched away from this subject to cover other subjects such as popular species well known to his audience. In this way it provided Cayley with the financial means to support his family.Cayley became noticed by leaders of natural science when he was employed to provide illustrations for scientific journals. In this endeavour he worked closely with staff of the Australian Museum, Sydney, where his works were received by an appreciative audience. As part of this he illustrated birds described by A. J. North from results of the Horn Expedition to Central Australia; and bird vignettes and eggs for Norths Nests and Eggs of Birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania some limited number of the latter being hand colour by the artist. The vignettes are still held at the Australian Museum.
- Artist: Neville HP Cayley
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