Jemima Blackburn
Encyclopedia
Jemima Wedderburn Blackburn (1823–1909) was a Scottish painter
whose work gives us an evocative picture of rural life in 19th-century Scotland
. One of the 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 of the illustrations are watercolors
, with early paintings often including some ink work. A few are collage
s, 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.
, 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 the Duke of Argyll
, Lord Kelvin, Lord Lister, Hermann von Helmholtz
, John Ruskin
, Sir John Everett Millais
, Anthony Trollope
and Benjamin Disraeli. Much of her work portrayed 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 Pipit
s (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 Charles 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.
"...in portraying animals, I have nothing to teach her..."
- Sir Edwin Landseer, 1843
In 1857 Jemima was asked to contribute to the first exhibition of contemporary British art in America. Her works have also been exhibited in Edinburgh
, Glasgow
and London
and examples have been acquired by the British Museum
, the British Library
, the Natural History Museum
, The Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery and more recently by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
and the James Clerk-Maxwell Foundation.
Beatrix Potter
describes Jemima in her journal as a "broad intelligent observer with a keen eye for the beautiful in Nature", commenting: "I consider that Mrs Blackburn's birds do not on the average stand on their legs so well as Bewick's, but he is her only possible rival". She also recalls her delight when given for her birthday a copy of Jemima's "Birds drawn from Nature", which was published in 1868 and won immediate public acclaim. A copy of the book, hand coloured under Jemima's own supervision, was presented to the Zoological Society of London
.
"...We have seen no such birds since Bewick's. We say this not ignorant of the magnificent plates by Selby, Audubon, Wilson and Gould..."
- The Scotsman, 1868
During her life at Roshven, Jemima created for us a priceless legacy of paintings covering every facet of the life and customs of her time. Hardly a day passed without her recording some aspect of her varied and wonderful life. She painted her family and friends, important visitors and local people going about their everyday work: cutting peat, gathering bracken, making hay and many other rural activities. These paintings provide us with a treasured insight into the people and pursuits of her time and of this area.
Besides all this, Jemima's abiding interest lay in the countryside and the wealth of wildlife which it supported. The very best of her work is to be found among her paintings of Roshven, its animals and its birds. It was through this that she became acknowledged as one of the leading bird painters of the day.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
whose work gives us an evocative picture of rural life in 19th-century Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. One of the 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 of the illustrations are watercolors
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
, with early paintings often including some ink work. A few are collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
s, in which she cut out a bird’s outline and transferred it to a different background, in a similar manner to John James Audubon
John James Audubon
John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...
. Her many watercolours show daily family life in the late nineteen century Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
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, and a first cousin of James Clerk MaxwellJames Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
, Jemima was a friend and pupil of John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and Sir Edwin Landseer, both of whom praised her work highly. She married the mathematician Professor Hugh Blackburn
Hugh Blackburn
Bailie Hugh Blackburn was a Scottish mathematician. A lifelong friend of William Thomson , and the husband of illustrator Jemima Blackburn, he was professor of mathematics at the University of Glasgow from 1849 to 1879...
and they bought the Roshven
Roshven
Roshven is an estate located on the coast between the Sound of Arisaig and Loch Ailort, in Lochaber, in the council area of Highland, Scotland. Towering above it is Rois-bheinn, the highest hill in the area.-History:...
estate in 1854. Her Roshven home became the focus of visits from some of the most celebrated figures of the century, including the Duke of Argyll
George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll
George John Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, PC, FRS, FRSE , styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847, was a Scottish peer, Liberal politician as well as a writer on science, religion, and the politics of the 19th century.-Background:Argyll was born at Ardencaple Castle, Dunbartonshire, the...
, Lord Kelvin, Lord Lister, Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was a German physician and physicist who made significant contributions to several widely varied areas of modern science...
, John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Sir John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
, Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
and Benjamin Disraeli. Much of her work portrayed 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 Pipit
Meadow Pipit
The Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis, is a small passerine bird which breeds in much of the northern half of Europe and also northwestern Asia, from southeastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; there is also an isolated...
s (Anthus pratensis) by a blind and naked hatchling Common Cuckoo
Common Cuckoo
The Common Cuckoo is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals....
(Cuculus canorus), accompanied by a small drawing. This behavior had been reported by Jenner in 1788 but dismissed as impossible by Charles Waterton
Charles Waterton
Charles Waterton was an English naturalist and explorer.-Heritage and Life:"Squire" Waterton was born at Walton Hall, Wakefield, Yorkshire to Thomas Waterton and Anne Bedingfield. He was of a Roman Catholic landed gentry family descended from Reiner de 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
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
refers to Mrs. Blackburn’s observations in the sixth edition of On the Origin of Species.
"...in portraying animals, I have nothing to teach her..."
- Sir Edwin Landseer, 1843
In 1857 Jemima was asked to contribute to the first exhibition of contemporary British art in America. Her works have also been exhibited in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and examples have been acquired by the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
, the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, The Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery and more recently by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...
and the James Clerk-Maxwell Foundation.
Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter was an English author, illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist best known for her imaginative children’s books featuring animals such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit which celebrated the British landscape and country life.Born into a privileged Unitarian...
describes Jemima in her journal as a "broad intelligent observer with a keen eye for the beautiful in Nature", commenting: "I consider that Mrs Blackburn's birds do not on the average stand on their legs so well as Bewick's, but he is her only possible rival". She also recalls her delight when given for her birthday a copy of Jemima's "Birds drawn from Nature", which was published in 1868 and won immediate public acclaim. A copy of the book, hand coloured under Jemima's own supervision, was presented to the Zoological Society of London
Zoological Society of London
The Zoological Society of London is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats...
.
"...We have seen no such birds since Bewick's. We say this not ignorant of the magnificent plates by Selby, Audubon, Wilson and Gould..."
- The Scotsman, 1868
During her life at Roshven, Jemima created for us a priceless legacy of paintings covering every facet of the life and customs of her time. Hardly a day passed without her recording some aspect of her varied and wonderful life. She painted her family and friends, important visitors and local people going about their everyday work: cutting peat, gathering bracken, making hay and many other rural activities. These paintings provide us with a treasured insight into the people and pursuits of her time and of this area.
Besides all this, Jemima's abiding interest lay in the countryside and the wealth of wildlife which it supported. The very best of her work is to be found among her paintings of Roshven, its animals and its birds. It was through this that she became acknowledged as one of the leading bird painters of the day.