Fish have been a natural subject for scientific illustration since naturalists first began recording the world around them in careful, observational detail. The fish designs in this collection draw chiefly on one of the finest surviving examples of that tradition, an 18th Century archive of natural history watercolours now held by McGill University Library. Commissioned in the mid-1700s and painted largely by Peter Paillou, with a further study contributed by Eleazar Albin, these works depict fish and other specimens with the same precision and restraint applied to the period’s better known bird studies.
The species represented span both marine and freshwater habitats: cod, herring, mackerel, sole, flounder and turbot drawn from British and North Atlantic waters sit alongside freshwater pike and roach, migratory salmon and smelt, and, more unusually, an ornamental goldfish. Each was painted from an actual specimen rather than from memory or convention, giving the work genuine documentary value alongside its artistic merit.
Browse the full range of fish pieces below, each one a faithful reproduction of an 18th Century natural history study.
The Fish of An 18th Century Natural History Archive
The fish designs in this collection are drawn predominantly from a substantial body of natural history watercolours produced in the mid-1700s and now held in the Rare Books and Special Collections of McGill University Library. The archive was assembled under private patronage during a period when wealthy naturalists commissioned professional artists to record specimens with scientific accuracy, well before standardised taxonomic illustration became widespread practice.
Attribution
The great majority of the fish studies are attributed to Peter Paillou, an artist active from approximately 1720 to 1790 who worked extensively across natural history subjects for the same patron. A further Mackerel study is attributed to Eleazar Albin, a naturalist and illustrator active between 1713 and 1759. Both artists worked in the observational tradition typical of the period, prioritising accurate depiction of form, colouring and scale over decorative embellishment.
Marine Species
The marine specimens form the largest group within the archive and include Cod, Common Sole, Flounder, Haddock, Herring, Turbot and Twaite Shad, alongside two separate Mackerel studies and a ray. Geographical distributions recorded alongside the originals place most of these species in British and North Atlantic waters, with several, including the Sole, Flounder and Twaite Shad, also found further south into the Mediterranean.
Freshwater and Migratory Species
A smaller group depicts freshwater and migratory fish: the Northern Pike and Common Roach, both native to freshwater across Europe, Asia and beyond, together with an immature Atlantic Salmon (recorded as a parr) and the European Smelt. Smelt and Twaite Shad are anadromous, moving between marine and freshwater environments to spawn, a behaviour that would have made them notable subjects for study at the time.
An Ornamental Exception
Among the wild specimens sits a single ornamental subject, the Goldfish, already established in captivity across Europe by the 18th Century. Its inclusion alongside wild-caught marine and freshwater species reflects the breadth of interest typical of Georgian natural history collecting, extending beyond specimens of purely commercial or culinary significance.
The Scientific Method Behind The Studies
The archive includes a volume of manuscript notes, written predominantly in the hand of the collection’s patron, describing the fish and reptiles depicted within it. This pairing of visual record and written description reflects a methodical, evidence based approach: each fish appears to have been drawn from an actual specimen rather than composed from memory, giving the resulting images lasting documentary value alongside their artistic quality.
Historical Context
Produced in the decades before Linnaean binomial classification became the accepted standard for naming species, these fish studies represent an important transitional moment in natural history illustration, when accurate visual documentation was itself a primary scientific tool. Their survival at McGill University Library provides a rare and well provenanced record of British and North Atlantic fish life as it was observed and recorded in the 18th Century.