Object Description
Set of Five Ornithological Watercolours of Rosellas
By Rickman, Philip (British, 1891-1982)
British, 1968/1969
Paper: Height 49cm, width 38cm, depth 1cm
Frame: Height 60cm, width 49.5cm, depth 3cm
This group of five watercolours belongs to a larger series of eleven ornithological studies of parrots and parakeets by Philip Rickman. Each composition shows birds settled on bare branches against a pale blue ground, rendered with close attention to plumage and stance.
The Crimson Rosella predominates, recognisable by its scarlet head and breast, white cheek patches, and blue-black mottled wings, shown singly, in pairs, and once in flight with iridescent blue tail feathers. The remaining two sheets depict the Pale-headed Rosella, identifiable by its pale-yellow head and white cheek patch, paired in one sheet with a blue-bodied Eastern Rosella variant and shown preening alone in the other.
Each sheet is signed and dated in blue ink, “Philip Rickman / 1968” or “Philip Rickman / 1969” and held in a gilt frame matching the full eleven-piece series. This group of five stands out as a particularly strong and unified selection.
Philip Rickman (British, 1891–1982) was a wildlife artist known for his watercolour studies of birds, combining a naturalist’s precision with an illustrator’s economy of line. Largely self-taught, he became one of the leading ornithological painters of his generation in Britain, providing illustrations for numerous natural history publications.