Jemima Blackburn

Much of her work portrayed Roshven, its animals and birds. She became one of the leading bird painters of the day. "...in portraying animals, I have nothing to teach her..." - Sir Edwin Landseer, 1843 Jemima Blackburn was a keen observer of bird behaviour, 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 behaviour had been reported by Edward Jenner in 1788 but dismissed as impossible by Charles Waterton in 1836. Blackburn's account was originally published in a popular narrative for children, The Pipits in 1871. Charles Darwin refers to Blackburn's observations in the sixth edition of On the Origin of Species. Blackburn illustrated 27 books. A lost oil painting, "Plough Horse Startled by a Railway Engine", was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849 and at the first exhibition of the Society of Female Artists in London in 1857. In the same year, she was asked to contribute to the first exhibition of contemporary British art in America. Her works have been exhibited in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London and examples have been acquired by the British Museum, the British Library, the Natural History Museum, Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation. In 1868 Blackburn published Birds drawn from Nature, which won immediate public acclaim. A copy, hand coloured under Blackburn'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 Beatrix Potter, famous for her own illustrations of wild and domestic animals, was a fan of Blackburn from childhood. Potter recalls her delight when given a copy of Blackburn's Birds drawn from Nature on her tenth birthday. As an adult, Potter assessed her 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". The two women met in 1894, when Blackburn was visiting Putney Park, near London, the home of a cousin of Potter's. Potter found her an extraordinarily interesting woman. "I have not been so much struck by anyone for a long time." It is quite likely that Blackburn's work for "The Cat's Pilgrimage" (1870) and other works influenced Potter's 1894 illustrations for "Little Red Riding Hood". The botanist Mary Noble argues that Potter modelled Jemima Puddle-duck, at least in name if not ornithological behaviour, on Jemima Blackburn. Blackburn died barely a year after Potter published her Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck to great success.