Wildlife art is painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture that takes wild animals, birds and their natural habitats as its principal subject. It sits alongside sporting art and natural history illustration, though its focus is on the creatures themselves rather than on hunting or scientific record alone.
British wildlife art has a long tradition. George Stubbs brought anatomical precision to animal painting in the eighteenth century, while Sir Edwin Landseer became the most celebrated Victorian painter of animals, famous for Highland stags and dogs. Thomas Bewick's wood engravings of British birds and quadrupeds were enormously influential, and John James Audubon's Birds of America set a standard for ornithological illustration. Archibald Thorburn and Joseph Wolf produced outstanding watercolours of game birds and raptors, and in the twentieth century Charles Tunnicliffe and David Shepherd attracted wide followings. In France the animalier sculptors, led by Antoine-Louis Barye, made wildlife a major subject in bronze. Collectors consider the artist, the quality and liveliness of the observation, condition and provenance. Original works and fine early prints suit country-house libraries, studies and boot rooms, where they sit naturally with taxidermy and sporting antiques.
