Edward Bird

The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is genre art. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history and genre. Places of work recorded in the authority are Birmingham, Bristol and London. Work by Edward Bird is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Victoria, Auckland Art Gallery, Tate, Australian National Maritime Museum and Musée Cognacq-Jay.

• Name — Edward Bird • Born — 1772 • Birthplace — Wolverhampton • Died — 2 November 1819 • Place of death — Bristol • Known for — Genre painting, History painting

Bird was born in Wolverhampton, the son of a carpenter. He received no formal artistic training, but developed his skills through apprenticeship as a japanning artist painting tea trays. In 1794 he moved to Bristol, where he married Martha Dodrell and pursued a career in artistic commissions: portraiture, book illustrations, and church painting.

In 1809, he exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1809, Good News, a genre portrait of an old soldier. Placed next to Wilkie's The Cut Finger, it attracted attention, and Bird's popularity grew when the Prince Regent bought his The Village Choristers and commissioned Blind Man's Buff. His works also include the Field of Chevy Chase and the Day after the Battle, which was pronounced his masterpiece. Bird was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1812, was appointed historical painter to Princess Charlotte in 1813, and elected a full member in 1815. Plagued by ill-health for over five years and unable to paint in the last year of his life, Bird died on 2 November 1819. He was buried in Bristol Cathedral. The following year a successful retrospective exhibition of his work was shown at the Bristol Fire Office, for the benefit of his family. His son George later became a midshipman, his equipment paid for by the subscriptions of Bird's friends. His daughter Martha became a Bristol watercolourist, and the younger daughter Harriet a governess.

• Illustration — The Old Soldier's Story, 1808 • Illustration — The Village Choristers, 1810 • Illustration — The Reading of the Will Concluded, 1811 • Illustration — Queen Philippa Supplicating King Edward to Spare the Lives of the Six Burghers of Calais, 1814 • Illustration — The Cheat Detected, 1814 • Illustration — The Departure to London, 1815 • Illustration — Proclaiming Joash King, 1815 • Illustration — The Embarkation of Louis XVIII at Dover, 1816 • Illustration — The Arrival of King Louis XVIII of France at Calais, 1816 • Illustration — Princess Caraboo, 1817 • Illustration — The Italian Dancing Dogmaster