Description
Ellis Rowan was one of Australia's most adventurous and talented natural history artists, specialising in flowers and birds, and occasionally insects. She travelled extensively to find subjects for her work.
This small watercolour painting is of a Bird of Paradise from Papua New Guinea. In front of a wash of lilac sky, the bird is dynamically pictured facing down from a position at the end of a slight tree branch. It has a bright yellow head, green gullet, and a shock of long, fanned out, scarlet tail feathers.
History
Burdekin Bequest,
Tamworth Regional Gallery.
Significance
Provenance: Bequest of Mr Norman Weekes Burdekin and Mrs Margaretta Emilie Burdekin.