Everything about Jemima Blackburn totally explained
Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (
1823 –
1909) was a
Scottish painter whose work gives us an evocative picture of rural life in 19th century
Scotland. One of most popular illustrators in Victorian Britain, she illustrated 27 books. Her greatest ornithological achievement was the second edition of her
Birds from Nature 1868. Most are watercolors, with early paintings often including some ink work. A few are collages, in which she cut out a bird’s outline and transferred it to a different background, in a similar manner to
John James Audubon. Her many watercolours show daily family life in the late nineteen century
Scottish Highlands as well as fantasy scenes from children's fables. She achieved widespread recognition under the initials JB or her married name Mrs Hugh Blackburn.
Life and Work
The youngest daughter of
James Wedderburn, Solicitor General for Scotland, Jemima was a friend and pupil of
John Ruskin and
Sir Edwin Landseer, both of whom praised her work highly. She married the mathematician
Professor Hugh Blackburn and they bought the
Roshven estate in
1854. Her Roshven home became the focus of visits from some of the most celebrated figures of the century, including
John Ruskin,
Sir John Everet Millais,
Anthony Trollope and
Benjamin Disraeli. The very best of Jemima's work is to be found among her paintings of Roshven, its animals and birds. She became one of the leading bird painters of the day.
Mrs. Blackburn was a keen observer of bird behavior, as evidenced by her writings. She describes the ejection of nestling
Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) by a blind and naked hatchling
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), accompanied by a small drawing. This behavior had been reported by
Jenner in
1788 but dismissed as impossible by
Waterton in
1836. Blackburn’s account was originally published, not in a scientific journal, but in a popular narrative for children,
The Pipits 1871.
Charles Darwin refers to Mrs. Blackburn’s observations in the sixth edition of
On the Origin of Species.
Modern reprints of her work
BLACKBURN’S BIRDS: THE BIRD PAINTINGS OF JEMIMA BLACKBURN. Rob Fairley, ed. Canongate Press, Edinburgh, Scotland. 1993: 112 pp., 100 color paintings, 3 black-and-white drawings, portrait photograph.
References and web links
- http://www.roshven.com/jmb.html
- http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/people/famousfirst2374.html
- http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Blackburn.html
- http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/history/hunter/gilmorehill.shtml
- The Bird Paintings of Jemima Blackburn by Rob Fairley, Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Autumn, 1995 - Winter, 1996), p. 57
- http://images.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp08650&role=art
- http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101052010/
- http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famousbrits.php?id=1243
Further Information
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