A Toucan (Pteroglossus aracari) on a branch

Although this drawing has all the characteristics of the famous watercolours of birds by Aert Schouman (1710-1792), the lack of his signature and its execution point to another artist, Abraham Meertens who lived in Middelburg and may have been a student of Schouman (C. Dumas, Een koninklijk paradijs. Aert Schouman en de verbeelding van de natuur, exhib. cat. Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 2017, p. 31). The drawing can be compared to signed watercolours of a toucan by Schouman, one dated 1748 in the Rijksmuseum (inv. RP-T-FM-138; see R.-J.A. te Rijdt in Netherlandish Art in the Rijksmuseum, 1700-1800, Amsterdam, 2006, no. 52, ill.), and another dated 1767, formerly in the Unicorno Collection, sold at Sotheby’s, Amsterdam, 19 May 2004, lot 211 (C. Dumas and R.-J. te Rijdt, Kleur en raffinement. Tekeningen uit de Unicorno collectie, exhib. cat., Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, and Dordrecht, Dordrechts Museum, 1994-1995, p. 27, fig. 29). On the verso of the latter drawing, Schouman noted that it is drawn from an animal owned by the painter P.M. Brasser (acive circa 1749-1778), who, like Meertens, was active in Middelburg.
We are grateful to Charles Dumas for his help in the cataloguing of this work, and for confirming its attribution to Meertens.