Birds: Exceptional Early 19th-century Works
This picture forms part of an exceptional collection of ornithological studies we have for sale, depicting various bird subjects, from the little egret to the golden eagle. Dating from the early 19th century, the collection represents the Victorian love affair with natural history, which cut across gender and class barriers and manifested in passionate crazes in everything from seashells to ferns.
Birds have always had a privileged place in human culture, mainly through myths and legends, such as that of Leda and the swan, and Aesop's fables. From the 17th century onwards ornithology became scientific, with the abandonment of emblematics, and the 18th century brought a fascination with exotic species. In Britain after the Napoleonic wars, the number of known bird species increased dramatically: colonial expansion and foreign expeditions brought new biological specimens, drawings and live birds back to Britain.
For the British public, the publication of illustrated bird books in the early 19th century brought ornithology into the home. William Yarrell's seminal 'A History of British Birds' was published in 1843, with engravings at the end of each article, and American ornithologist John James Audubon's sumptuous 'Birds of America' (1827–38), was the largest and most beautiful illustrated bird book ever produced. Another artist to contribute to the field was Edward Lear, whose first profession was an ornithological draughtsman, contributing drawings to John Gould's immensely popular 'Birds of Europe' (1832–37). Lear's insistence upon drawing direct from life wherever possible, rather than from stuffed specimens, was assisted by the new zoological gardens which opened in Regents Park in 1829.
The pictures show great accomplishment in the accuracy with which they are painted—the skill of the ornithological artist being to convey the characteristics by which species are distinguished. Perhaps most quintessentially Victorian is their reliance on observation and particularity: capturing the Victorian drive to collect, witness and catalogue, and to look, with the naked eye, the hand lens and the microscope.
