Archibald Thorburn Paintings

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Archibald Thorburn Biography

English Naturalist artist
born 1860 - died 1935

Archibald Thorburn was born in 1860, near Edinburgh, the fifth son of the miniaturist Robert Thorburn ARA. He is now acknowledged as one of the greatest artists of birdlife paintings of all time.

It was perhaps from his father that he acquired the ability to create his minutely detailed paintings and he sketched from a very early age. Archibald Thorburn painted birds, animals and flowers but he specialized in the study of game birds, as he had a tremendous knowledge of ornithology.

Thorburn received little formal artistic training but his career as a painter of birds began in 1883, when he completed 144 plates for WF Swaysland’s Familiar Wild Birds. However, his reputation was firmly established by his contribution to Lord Lilford’s magisterial survey Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles, which was published between 1885 and 1898.

Archibald Thorburn paintings created such an impact because he was one of the first British wildlife artists to paint and sketch in the open and from life, rather than in a studio and from stuffed samples. Although he moved to London in 1885, he continued to make sketching tours of Britain throughout his life.

Archibald Thorburn first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the age of 20, and was a regular figure there throughout the 1880s and 1890s. At the end of the 1890s Archibald Thorburn became disillusioned with the Academy and exhibited instead at A Baird Carter, in Jermyn Street. Thorburn was also sufficiently highly-regarded by his contemporaries to have been asked to paint Queen Victoria on three separate occasions.

Archibald Thorburn wrote many of his own books on birdlife and, as a keen conservationist, was elected Vice President of the RSPB in recognition of his services on behalf of bird preservation.

Generally preferring to work in watercolour, Archibald Thorburn painting skill, artistic talent and scientific observation ensured that Archibald Thorburn was recognized as one of the leading artists of his time. Archibald Thorburn died in 1935.