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| The Lory Sir Edwin Landseer 1837 The Royal Collection |
“The Lory” was a frequent sitter for Sir Edwin Landseer. The parrot’s amiable nature made him a suitable subject and an easy one to work with. Queen Victoria described the bird as “so tame that is remains in your hand, and you may put your finger into its beak, or do anything with it, without it ever attempting to bite.” Lory was a gift from Queen Victoria’s uncle, Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha upon his May, 1836 visit to London. As thanks for the Queen’s hospitality and her generosity to his two sons, he presented her with the friendly parrot who never ceased to delight Victoria.
3 comments:
What a marvelous bird! Note the grapes in the dish - no doubt "Lory" liked to eat grapes and they were included in this painting as a tribute to his taste. Quite possibly he enjoyed finding (and eating) the grape seed rather than the grape itself. This is a trait of large parots - our cockatoo liked to carefully pull apart peices of bread to extract the 'Ten Whole Grains' and he also liked applecores (rather than whole apples) because the seeds were easy to extract. He used his beak with immense finesee - when in the mood he could 'cut' a strip of newspaper with his beak almost as tidely as one could manage with a pair of scissors.
Hello, SherR. It sounds as if you were fortunate to have the company of an exceptional bird!
I can only hope through research and updates comes the true species listing of "Lory". Although the name may or may not be an abbreviation for the Lorikeet it appears to this reader/aviculturist that " Lory" was indeed an Eclectus.
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