Archibald
Thorburn (1)
Birds of British Isles

The
chromolithographs below are by Archibald
Thorburn (1860-1935) and cut from the second edition of Lord
Lilford's classic Coloured Figures of Birds
of the British Isles, published by R. H. Porter, London,
1891-97 .
Size: 6.25 x 9.75 inches
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Archibald
Thorburn's "distinctive and immaculate art was . . . the outcome
of natural artistic talent backed up with knowledge obtained along the
sights of a gun and from close observations and frequent handling
animals, both alive and dead. Birds were his favourite subjects,
too, and
he had a remarkable ability to draw the small species. . . . The master
of every aspect of animal art, Thorburn has never been surpassed in the
delineation of feathers, conveying the softness of their texture and
the
delicacy of their markings with a skill which has been the despair of
bird
artists ever since.
"Many of Thorburn's
designs were produced by chromolithography, including those he did
for Lord
Lilford's Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles
(1885-98), which is considered to contain some of the finest pictures of pictures
of birds
ever reproduced in colour. "
--S. Peter
Dance, The Art of Natural History
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