Sketch of a bison [Bray album]

No. 37 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

While this drawing has the appearance of an American bison it is not clear how Bray could have seen one and it is more probably African, and sketched on one of his West African voyages in the years 1774-77.

It is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral - on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.

Object Details

ID: PAJ2012
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Gabriel Bray
Date made: circa 1775; 1775-1777 1775-77
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Purchased with the assistance of the Society for Nautical Research Macpherson Fund
Measurements: Sheet: 56 x 56 mm; Mount: 481 x 316 mm