The Porgy (Sparus chrysops)

published 1754

Mark Catesby

Associated Names
Mark Catesby

Artist, English, 1679 - 1749

The image displays a fish with a dark brown back and a shaded, bluish-silver body. It has large yellow-ringed eyes, a prominent mouth, and a dorsal fin with sharp spines. The colors used are dark brown, bluish-silver, yellow, and hints of green. The fish is positioned horizontally with its head to the left, tail to the right, and lower fin downward near the center.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching and engraving with hand coloring on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Dr. and Mrs. George Benjamin Green

  • Dimensions

    plate: 26 x 35.7 cm (10 1/4 x 14 1/16 in.)
    sheet: 31.4 x 44.9 cm (12 3/8 x 17 11/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.163.72

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Natural History, Vol. vol.2, no. 16

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. and Mrs. George Benjamin Green, Virginia; gift to NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1771

  • Catesby, Mark. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. London: 1771.

Inscriptions

lower center in plate: Aurata.; upper left in plate (faint impression): T 16; by later hand, lower left in graphite: M. Catesby - London - 1754; by later hand, lower center in graphite: The Porgy

Watermarks

IV

Wikidata ID

Q74894998

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