Woodmouse and wood sorrel

Thorburn illustrated two books on mammals, J.G. Millais The Mammals of Great Britian and Ireland, London, 1904-6 and his own book British Mammals, London, 1920, a companion to British Birds, published five years earlier. David Attenborough writes on the mammal paintings 'Thorburn's paintings are remarkably accurate not only in the way they portray the anatomy but, equally importantly and perhaps more difficult to achieve with veracity and honesty, the personality of each species as a living animal' (Thorburn's Mammals, London, 1974, p. 8). The present watercolour was not published but shows Thorburns continuing interest in mammals right up until his last years, when, as John Southern writes 'his dexterity with watercolour shows little sign of deserting him'.