{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1406664"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1406664/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML1264/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML1264/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020ML1264","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020ML1274","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London / courtesy of Frederick Warne & Co. ","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1406664","accessionNumber":"BP.416","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.\r\n\r\nFrom early childhood Beatrix Potter spent time drawing the many pets that she kept in her schoolroom: over the years, her pets included lizards, snails, bats, mice, rabbits and many other animals. During the family’s long summer holidays to rural areas she also took the opportunity to draw the plants and animals she saw in the countryside. Even her earliest childhood drawings show a serious interest in natural history, her sketches annotated with information about the species concerned. \r\n\r\nAs a young woman Beatrix Potter studied natural history with some seriousness, exploring the collections of the Natural History Museum, including the insect cases and fungi specimens. She had a collector’s cabinet full of specimens, from shells to dead butterflies and moths, and used a magnifying glass and a microscope to examine them more closely. She made numerous carefully observed studies of animals and plants from life. \r\n\r\nBy her mid-twenties mycology, the study of fungi, had become a strong interest, and Potter made many exquisitely detailed watercolour drawings of fungi over the next few years. Her interest was also scientific, and a (now lost) paper she wrote on the subject was read at a meeting of the prestigious Linnean Society of London in 1897, when Potter was 30. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Five studies of a shrew (recto) and  unfinished study of fungus surrounded by  grasses (verso).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beatrix Potter","id":"A18000"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"card","id":"x30344"},{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour painting (technique)","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"watercolour and pencil on card","categories":[{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Animals and Wildlife","id":"THES250852"},{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"}],"styles":[{"text":"British","id":"AAT111159"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2020ML1264","2020ML1274"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES318120"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 19th century - early 20th century","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1950-12-31"},"association":{"text":"drawn","id":"x30545"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number]","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"220","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"210","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family.   ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Five studies of a shrew (recto) and unfinished study of fungus surrounded by grasses (verso) by Beatrix Potter; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.318.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. <u>Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia.</u> London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.","id":"AUTH315806"},"details":"p. 35; no.318","free":"Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p. 35; no.318"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"mycology","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"natural history","id":"AAT251095"},{"text":"animals","id":"x30274"},{"text":"shrew","id":"x45001"},{"text":"fungus","id":"AAT132433"},{"text":"fungi","id":"AAT132433"},{"text":"grass","id":"AAT132397"},{"text":"mushroom","id":"x33488"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["BP.416"],"accessionNumberNum":"416","accessionNumberPrefix":"BP","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Linder Bequest catalogue no.","id":"THES57120"},"number":"LB.318"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","recto","verso"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-28","recordCreationDate":"2017-07-27","availableToBook":true}}