Natural Curiosity

A sense of awe swept through natural history circles in 18th-century London when the first ships returned from Sydney with their cargo of exotic animals, birds, and plants—and striking watercolor illustrations. The sudden emergence, in 2011, of a large number of these watercolor illustrations has revealed much about the early years of the colony. In Natural Curiosity, Louise Anemaat uncovers never-before-published works from the artists of the First Fleet, including convicts-turned-watercolorists Thomas Watling and John Doody, and the anonymous “Port Jackson Painter.” She unravels the complex network of natural history collectors who spanned the globe eagerly acquiring, copying, and exchanging these artworks, from New South Wales Surgeon-General John White to passionate British collector Aylmer Bourke Lambert.