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CONTINENTAL SCHOOL, circa 1770
[Great Grey Shrike (Larius excubitor)]
[circa 1770]. Watercolour and bodycolour, on laid paper, watermarked with a fleur-de-lys. Sheet size: 14 7/8 x 9 1/8 inches.
An accurate depiction of a Great Grey Shrike with a charming naïveté.
The Great Grey Shrike is a summer visitor to Mediterranean Europe, although it does occasionally stray farther north (there are regular sightings in Great Britain for example). A predator, it feeds on insects and small birds and mammals. It acquired its other common name (the Butcher Bird) from its occasional practice of impaling unwanted food on thorns and such like, and then returning when hungry. The present image is on continental paper and is stylistically similar to work being produced in Germany in the 1770s.
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#9303 $750.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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