How British artists painted Indian birds they had never seen
· Scroll
At the Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai’s Fort district, a jaunty black-and-white hornbill named William sits in profile against a bright yellow disc. The great hornbill is not the only bird to nest on the Society’s premises. There is a comb duck, a sandgrouse and a mallard, among several other species. Happily for intrepid birdwatchers, this flock is unlikely to take flight or swim away.
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William perches on the facade of the Society’s building, of which he is the logo, while the others wade and waddle only on paper. They are the subjects of rare ornithological chromolithographs from the turn of the 20th century held in the organisation’s library. Slid from large white envelopes and spread across a table, the prints constitute a virtual aviary of vibrant waterfowl, mostly in profile: floating on waters, resting in marshy terrain, gliding low along the horizon. A close quint at the bottom right corner of the prints reveals that all but one are signed “H. Grönvold”, with the remaining plate signed “J.G.K.”.
Commissioned by the Society for its specialist journal, founded in 1886, the lithographs formed part of a series published between 1897 and 1905 under the title The Indian Ducks and their Allies. Compiled by ornithologist and...