Archibald Thorburn Wildlife Art

Archibald was born at Viewfield House, on the 31st May 1860 in Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland. His first education was at Dalkeith and in Edinburgh, and he went on to study at the newly founded St Johns Wood School of Art in London but only studied there for a short period, since on the death of his father in 1885, Archibald Thorburn turned to the artist Joseph Wolf for his art direction and guidance. It was his commission in 1887 to illustrate Lord Lilfords Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Isles, for which he painted some 268 watercolours, that established Thorburns reputation. Archibald Thorburn would go on to illustrate numerous sporting and natural history books, including his own. Archibald Thorburn was friends of other eminent bird illustrators including George Edward Lodge and John Guille Millais with whom he collaborated on a number of works including: Natural History of British Feeding Ducks; British Diving Ducks and British Game Birds. Archibald Thorburns paintings were regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy and he became Vice-President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the 1890s. On his marriage to Constance Mudie, Thorburn moved to High Leybourne in Hascombe in 1902, where he lived until his death on the 9th October 1935. His grave is at St John the Baptist church in Busbridge Godalming.