Archibald Thorburn

Archibald Thorburn (1860 – 1935) is arguably Britain’s most distinguished ornithological artist. He was born in Scotland, the son of Robert Thorburn, portrait miniaturist to Queen Victoria. He attended the newly established St John's Wood School of Art. His formal education ended on the death of his father in 1882, but he was mentored by Joseph Wolf, considered by Landseer to be ‘without exception, the best all-round animal artist who ever lived’.

He first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the age of twenty, but his major breakthrough came when Lord Lilford employed him in 1887 to complete the work on ‘Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles’, which was published in 36 parts between 1885 and 1898, after the original artist, John Gerrard Keulemans, fell ill. He illustrated the books of others as well as his own, as well as undertaking private commissions.

His work can be seen in many public collections.