The Natural History, the life work of the English naturalist and artist Mark Catesby (1682-1749), the most important precursor of Audubon, was twenty years in the making, from 1729 to 1749. It was the first comprehensive study of the flora and fauna of the eastern seaboard of North America, and its beautifully finished, often striking images remained an indispensable reference source throughout the century of its publication. Published here for the first time are the original watercolors from which Catesby prepared the etchings which accompanied his published volumes. Having been stored away from the light between the pages of a unique copy of the book in the Royal Library at Windsor, which King George III bought in 1768, they are wonderfully fresh, and communicate all the enthusiasm of the pioneer naturalist amazed by the colors and variety of the new species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, insects and plants he was documenting (some of them now extinct). The watercolors have recently undergone conservation at the Royal Library and selections are being exhibited at several international venues. The conservation has brought to light many new drawings illustrating Catesby's working methods, and Henrietta McBurney's research sheds valuable new light on Catesby and the composition of his epochal Natural History.

Mark Catesby's Natural History of America: The Watercolours from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle

Arts & Photography

McBurney, Henrietta

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Wall Paintings of Eton combines known facts about the wall paintings with the findings of recently commissioned scientific analysisThis is the first book on these important works since M. R. James's seminal publication The Frescoes in the Chapel at Eton Collegepublished over 100 years agoThe paintings which adorn the lower walls of the chapel at Eton College are arguably the most important surviving late-medieval murals in Northern Europe. Documented as having been painted between 1479 and 1487, they originally comprised some thirty-two scenes ranged in two registers on the chapel's north and south walls, recounting the miracles of the Virgin. Concealed for years with whitewash and panelling, it was not until the 1920s that the paintings were finally uncovered and their significance appreciated fully.This stunningly illustrated publication brings together the considerable body of recent research into these internationally important wall paintings, giving a comprehensive description and an account of their creation and patronage. It also includes a fascinating discussion on the Head Master's Chambers wall painting dated to around 1520 and discovered in 2005.

Wall Paintings of Eton

Park, David

Rickerby, Stephen

Howe, Emily

Shekede, Lisa

History & Criticism

Scala Books

From the 1997 exhibition from the collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, which brought, for the first time, the original watercolors from which Catesby prepared the etchings which accompanied the published volumes of his expeditions to the southern colonies of North America from 1712 to 1719, and again from 1722 to 1726. Also included are works produced by Catesby after his final return to England, along with a number of drawings by his London colleagues. The originals were stored away since their purchase by George III in 1768, keeping them wonderfully fresh. A beautiful look at the flora and fauna of the eastern seaboard of North America, some of which are extinct. With the book plate and pencil signature of Gavin Bridson. 160 pages. cloth, dust jacket. 4to..

Mark Catesby's Natural History of America: The Watercolors from the Royal Library Windsor Castle

Merrell Publishers

The life and art of the 18th-century naturalist Mark Catesby, and his pioneering work depicting the flora and fauna of North America, are explored in vibrant detail This book explores the life and work of the celebrated eighteenth-century English naturalist, explorer, artist and author Mark Catesby (1683-1749). During Catesby's lifetime, science was poised to shift from a world of amateur&nbsp;virtuosi&nbsp;to one of professional experts. Working against a backdrop of global travel that incorporated collecting and direct observation of nature, Catesby spent two prolonged periods in the New World - in Virginia (1712-19) and South Carolina and the Bahamas (1722-6). In his majestic two-volume&nbsp;Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands&nbsp;(1731-43), esteemed by his contemporary John Bartram as 'an ornament for the finest library in the world', he reflected the excitement, drama and beauty of the natural world. Interweaving elements of art history, history of science, natural history illustration, painting materials, book history, paper studies, garden history and colonial history, this meticulously researched volume brings together a wealth of unpublished images as well as newly discovered letters by Catesby, which, with their first-hand accounts of his collecting and encounters in the wild, bring the story of this extraordinary pioneer naturalist vividly to life.

Illuminating Natural History: The Art and Science of Mark Catesby

Individual Artists

Paul Mellon Centre

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Books by McBurney, Henrietta