Samuel Daniell

Samuel Daniell
(1775–1811)

Hippopotamus

Watercolor, over graphite
12 1/2 x 17 5/8 inches (317 x 448 mm)

Purchased as a gift of Mrs. Peter McBean

1977.28
Item description: 

This drawing was preparatory for plate 12 of Daniell's African Scenery and Animals, published in London in 1804. Samuel Daniell traveled to South Africa in late 1799 during the first British occupation. Two years later he was appointed secretary and draftsman of a government trading mission sent to Bechuanaland, in the interior. The present drawing was originated on this six-month-long expedition, during which Daniell sketched and recorded views of indigenous animals in their natural habitats, to be worked up later into finished drawings.