Unidentified Pair of Finches
Frederick Ernest Gunn (1869 - 1950)
Category
Art / Drawings and watercolours
Date
1897 - 1920
Materials
paper
Measurements
230 mm (H); 305 mm (W)
Place of origin
Norwich
Order this imageCollection
Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 285965.40
Summary
Watercolour on paper, One of a collection of sixty-eight watercolour drawings of birds by F.E. Gunn, a taxidermist of Norwich. The collection includes garden birds, fresh water birds and sea birds, and most are accompanied by a pencil description on the back, which gives the name of the bird, where it was shot and sometimes the condition it should be kept in. Many of the birds were reported to be stuffed and exhibited in Norwich Castle Museum. Other notes inserted in with the drawings mention which birds are on offer for the future. The collection dates from the years between 1897 and 1920 and was most probably something to do with Sir Vauncey's collection of stuffed birds at Calke, many of which were brought from Mr Gunn of Norwich. This example shows an unidentified pair of finches sitting on thorny branches. The upper is primarily white, the lower has an orange head, buff breast, dark-brown back and black wings, possibly a hawfinch.
Provenance
Transferred to the National Trust by the Treasury in lieu of CTT in 1985 with an endowment provided by the NHMF.
Makers and roles
Frederick Ernest Gunn (1869 - 1950), artist