William Neave Parker Animal Protection: Tortoise, Rhino, Armadillo

An original 1957 gouache painting, William Neave Parker, Animal Protection: Tortoise, Rhino, Armadillo.

An outstanding large sheet of animal illustrations by the British natural history artist William Neave Parker (1910–1961).

Neave Parker used his talent for drawing and love of wildlife to show natural history imagery to a non-specialist audience. He is particularly known for his illustrations of prehistoric flora and fauna and his reconstructions of dinosaurs.

Characteristically, Parker paints with beautiful precision and detail, in an appealing and engaging composition, whilst his presentation is also underpinned by scientific theory and an instructive purpose.

Here he brings together a variety of animals to illustrate the evolution of forms of bodily protection such as horns, spines, body plates and shells: from the extinct bony triceratops and scolosaurus, through to the present-day rhino, tortoise, alligator and armadillo. Labels on the verso indicate that this sheet was purchased by the Illustrated London News in 1957.

Painted in grey heightened with white bodycolour. On Eynsford handmade unbleached Arnold board.

Image size: 43.5 x 71cm. Sheet size: 75 x 55cm.

This is one of a trio of sheets by William Neave Parker (1910–1961) that we have for sale.

After an early career in banking and having served with the RAF during World War II, William Neave Parker (1910–1961) made the acquaintance of Maurice Burton, a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum in London and honorary science editor at the Illustrated London News. With a shared desire to bring natural history to a non-technical readership, the pair collaborated on a series of drawings of prehistoric animals, first published in the Illustrated London News in 1950.

Burton then introduced Parker to William Elgin Swinton (1900–1994), palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, and thereafter Parker worked on series of illustrations for the museum. Of particular note were a series of Jurassic and Cretaceous animals which were published in the Illustrated London News between 1956 and 1960. He also produced book illustrations and linocut and wood engraving prints.

Parker's work has become highly collectable. Examples can be found in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.