Birds of America 
Compton Verney, Warwickshire

COMPTON VERNEY ART GALLERY is housed in Compton Verney House, a restored 18^th century mansion nestling in 120 acres of parkland, landscaped by Lancelot “Capability” Brown. It is a jewel in Warwickshire’s crown and always well worth a visit.

A special exhibition examines the artistry and legacy of one of the world’s rarest, most coveted and — at almost one metre in height — largest books. Birds of America is a touring exhibition from the National Museums Scotland and showcases 46 prints from the book. 

Rarely displayed unbound, this show represents a unique opportunity to see so much of Audubon’s work in one place. The story is complemented by letters, books, manuscripts, films and audio, which explore the book’s historical context and consider why Audubon’s artistic style was so ground-breaking.

Published as a series between 1827 and 1838, Birds of America was a landmark work, which achieved international renown due to the epic scale of the project and the book’s spectacular, large-scale ornithological illustrations.

The culmination of Audubon’s ambition to paint every bird species in North America, it took almost 12 years to complete, and is justly still celebrated for its extraordinarily animated, dramatic and detailed illustrations.

The display also explores how the book came to influence natural sciences, what we can learn from its controversial legacy, and critically examines the impact of human beings on the natural world.

John James Audubon was born in 1785, in what today is Haiti, the illegitimate son of a father who was a plantation owner and slave trader and a creole mother.

He grew up in revolutionary times (1785-1851), experiencing both the French and American revolutions and he was undoubtedly influenced by enlightenment thinking. The increasing interest in science and the natural world impacted on his own life.   

From a very young age, he developed an interest in drawing and painting. At age 18 he was sent to the United States to avoid conscription into Napoleon’s army.

There he began his study of North American birds. To survive, he made portraits and taught drawing, while his wife worked as a governess.

His paintings of American birds would make his name but not, to begin with, in the US, where his “dubious” family background and possibly mixed race heritage as well as his lack of formal education and training held him back.

He was spurned by the scientific and artistic elite. It would be in Britain where he would find recognition first, where even Darwin admired his work.

In Edinburgh his talents were immediately recognised, and he was welcomed. There, his paintings were made into prints and book plates for publication. Once the king had subscribed to his books, London, too, took an interest. 

The value of his work lies not only in the fact that he was the first individual to attempt to compile a comprehensive folio of the birds of America but that his work was of high artistic merit.

He not only caught the birds’ behaviour and their plumage with supreme accuracy, but he placed them in the context of their habitat in exquisite compositions.

Critics of Audubon’s work have pointed to certain fanciful (or even impossible) poses and inaccurate details, but few argue with its excellence as art. 

As was usual at the time, Audubon, like all wildlife illustrators, worked from dead specimens, killing the birds, and often having them stuffed. But he said: “I have never drawn from stuffed specimens that are lifeless.”

His paintings, therefore, are lifelike and highly accurate in terms of plumage colouration and shape. 

Sadly many of his paintings, watercolours, gouache and oil, were dispersed in private collections and in this show are only the coloured engravings made from those originals.

He made a significant contribution to the science of birdlife and kept meticulous notes of his observations which were published alongside his images in the Ornithological Biography. He was already very aware of the impact of habitat degradation on wildlife. 

They also bear witness to what we have lost as a result of the horrendous mass killing of birds and other animal life, carried out in such a cruel and mindless slaughter by our ancestors from that time onwards into the 20th century. 

Audubon’s drawings inspired the founding of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1896, and additional state-level societies emerged in the years that followed. The National Audubon Society was founded in 1905 as an organisation dedicated to conserving and restoring natural ecosystems.  

The exhibition is paired with a very different but equally fascinating artistic beast: Quentin Blake.

I highly recommend a visit.

Runs until October 1. For more information visit comptonverney.org.uk.