Philip Reinagle RA, Sketch of a murex shell

Sketch of a murex shell, c. 1792

Philip Reinagle RA (1749 - 1833)

RA Collection: Art

The Royal Academy's collection of Philip Reinagle drawings includes many studies of shells. An inscription on one of the sheets suggest that some of them were drawn from items in the collection of Sir Ashton Lever. Reinagle was certainly familiar with Lever and in 1786 exhibited at the Royal Academy a painting of hummingbirds from his collection.

Lever began to collect sea shells around 1760. He bought a large consignment from a ship at Dunkirk and with these formed the core of a natural history collection which eventually included fossils and both live and stuffed birds. The collection was was published in George Shaw's Museum Leverianum, containing Select Specimens from the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, Kt.', 1792-96 which included a large number of hand-coloured engraved plates by Reinagle and other artists.

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Object details

Title
Sketch of a murex shell
Artist/designer
Philip Reinagle RA (1749 - 1833)
Date
c. 1792
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pencil, pen and ink on laid paper
Dimensions

120 mm x 147 mm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
19/130
Acquisition
Bequeathed by Gilbert Bakewell Stretton 1949

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