| A drawing of two Indian elephants, signed "P. Camper f. 10 Sept. 1786", in red chalk or crayon, was found in the archives of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie in a manuscript by T.G. van Lidth de Jeude (1788-1863). Van Lidth de Jeude, professor at Utrecht university, obviously intended to use it as an illustration in his projected manual of the mammals in Dutch. The drawing is almost completely identical to an unsigned drawing in the Artis library, one of a series of three. The Leiden drawing is traced back to H. Schlegel, director of the Leiden museum 1858-1884, who most probably obtained the Van Lidth de Jeude papers upon his death. Van Lidth de Jeude is likely to have acquired the Camper drawing from G.J. van Klinkenberg (1768/69-1841), who in... |
