Albany's Historic Whaling Station > Records

PAINTING - FRANCISCANA

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Richard Ellis

c. 1975

Subcollections

Overview

Painting of slender dolphin, brownish-grey on top and lighter grey below, with long, narrow beak, low, rounded dorsal fin, and broad flippers, gouache on blue card, framed and mounted with inscription (5).

Historical information

Collection of 106 of paintings by Richard Ellis that were selected by the Smithsonian Institution to form a traveling exhibit of the marine mammals of the world. The collection was purchased by Perth businessman Kevin Parry in 1985 and donated to Whale World, now known as Albany's Historic Whaling Station.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-128-RE1999.375

Item type

Themes

Material

Width

410 mm

Height or length

440 mm

Depth

15 mm

Weight

1.52 kg

Inscriptions and markings

FRANCISCANA (Pontoporia blainvilei)
The little dolphin with the long name also has the longest beak in proportion to its body length of any dolphin. It may have as many as 240 teeth. It is thought to have been named for the Franciscan friars whose grayish-color habits approximate the color of the dolphin. It is not strictly a fresh-water species, but is found in the shallow coastal waters of the La Plata River off the coasts of Uruguay and Argentina. Many are accidentally caught in shark nets every year and drowned.
5.

Verso: Smithsonian label checklist # 5 Packing case # 3, AWHS accession number

Contextual information

The paintings represent a body of work by well-known American marine conservationist, author, artist and natural historian Richard Ellis (1938-2024).

Keywords

Richard Ellis

Smithsonian Institution

Albany's Historic Whaling Station

Marine Mammals

Place made

United States

Year

c. 1975