Peter Paillou

For his son, see Peter Paillou (the younger).

Peter Paillou (c.1720 – c.1790) was a British artist best known for his paintings of birds, many of which were used as book illustrations.

Painting of "Great Kingfisher" by Peter Paillou. Colour plate in A natural history of birds by George Edwards, 1740–50

Life and career

"The Heron" engraved by Peter Mazell in 1766 from painting by Peter Paillou. In The British Zoology, Class II: Birds.

Little is known of his early life but it is believed that he came to Britain from France in the early part of the eighteenth century.

He was given a commission to paint a gilded pheasant in 1745. He was employed by Thomas Pennant to paint pictures of birds, many of which were engraved by Peter Mazell for use as plates in Pennant's books.^[1]

He made a number of paintings representing different climate types for Thomas Pennant, probably under commission, and some of these are in the Pennant Collection in the National Library of Wales.^[2]

Family

His son, also named Peter Paillou (1757–1831), was a painter of portraits including miniatures.^[3][4] He practised in London for 20 years before moving to Glasgow for some years, where he charged eight guineas for a miniature and ten guineas for a three quarter length portrait in oils.^[5]

Works

• Colour plates in A natural history of birds by George Edwards, 1740–50.