Possum up a Gum Tree. Marianne North (1830-1890). Early 1880s. Oil on board. H 47.3 x W 33.7 cm. Marianne North Gallery, Kew. Accession no. MN748, given by the artist, 1882. Photo credit: The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
North recalled the incident in New South Wales when "Mr. C.," at whose home near Sydney she was then staying, "found an opossum in an old stump and pulled it out by its prehensile tail for me to paint. We put it in a cage, and in a few hours it was lapping milk out of a teaspoon and having its head scratched, without the least fear of us (II: 130). North often expresses sympathy for animals — just after this, for example, for the sheep undergoing the "cruel process" of being washed to bleach their wool (II: 130); but she still shows less respect for them than we might like now.
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Bibliography
Possum up a Gum Tree. Art UK. Web. 30 August 2023.
North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: being the autobiography of Marianne North. Vol. II. London and New York, Macmillan, 1893. Internet Archive, from a copy of a book in the Wellcome Library. Web. 30 August 2023.
Created 30 August 2023