Study of a lizard
About the work
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) made numerous studies of animals, some of which she kept as pets. The subject of this detailed watercolour study of February 1884 is thought to be a lizard Potter had as a pet at this time: later that year, in her journal entry for 20 April, Potter wrote: ‘Judy, the little lizard we brought from Ilfracombe, died on Sunday 20th. I have had a great deal of pleasure from that little Creature.’
Beatrix Potter 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.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- BP.405
Meanwhile, in the life of Beatrix Potter
The whole lifein youth
The Royal Academy and John Everett Millais
In her teens Beatrix was a regular visitor to London’s art galleries, especially enjoying the Royal Academy’s summer and winter exhibitions; her journal shows the growth of her taste and critical eye. She was also influenced by her father’s friend, the painter Sir John Everett Millais, who recognised her gift of observation.
1881–1897
A journal in a cipher of her own
From 1881 Beatrix kept a journal in a simple substitution cipher of her own devising — in tiny handwriting, serving as both sketchbook and literary experiment, in which she described society, her impressions of art and the life around her. The entries stop in 1897, when her energies were absorbed in scientific study and in efforts to publish her drawings.
1882
The Lake District and Hardwicke Rawnsley
When Dalguise was no longer available, the Potters spent their first summer in the Lake District in 1882, at Wray Castle near Lake Windermere; sixteen-year-old Beatrix fell in love with its beauty and resolved to live there one day. There she met Hardwicke Rawnsley, the vicar of Wray and later founding secretary of the National Trust, whose views on the countryside left a lasting mark on her.
