Unseen Peter Scott sketches go on display

A new exhibition of never-seen-before prints by painter and conservationist Sir Peter Markham Scott has gone on display at Cambridge University. The pictures in Double Exposure, which can be viewed at the Photography and Illustration Service, are taken from an archive of work that remained in Scott's studio after his death in 1989. They chart the development of Scott as an observer and artist of the natural world - from his boyhood and time spent at Cambridge at Trinity College, to his varied professional life as a painter, ornithologist and conservationist. Scott, the son of polar explorer of Robert Falcon Scott, was something of a Renaissance man. He won a bronze medal in sailing at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, served on battleships during the Second World War, stood as a Conservative candidate in the 1945 General Election, was crowned British Gliding Champion in 1963, presented the long-running BBC natural history programme Look, and was Chancellor of Birmingham University from 1973 to 1983. Despite his varied interests, Scott returned time and again to the simple pleasure of drawing the natural world. He had a particular gift for distilling the uniqueness of a particular animal - whether the biomechanical fluency of a bird in full flight or the beautiful colours of tropical fish.