This monsoon, Purathanam is excited to introduce a collection of beautiful nineteenth-century bird chromolithographs. While researching this collection, I ended up going down a rabbit hole that took me thousands of years back in time.

I wanted to know a simple thing, how long have humans been painting birds?

As I started reading about prehistoric cave art, I came across something that really surprised me. Cave walls around the world are covered with paintings of Humans, animals like  bison, horses, deer and mammoths. But birds? They are surprisingly rare comparatively.

That immediately made me wonder… why?

The truth is, no one really knows the answer yet. Maybe large animals were more important for survival and hunting. Maybe birds were harder to observe or paint. Or maybe many bird paintings simply haven’t survived. Whatever the reason, birds hardly appeared in the earliest known art.

But somewhere along the way, that began to change.

The more I read, the more fascinated I became. Birds slowly started appearing in temples, pottery, manuscripts, palaces and paintings across different cultures. They became symbols of faith, beauty, power and knowledge. Later, they even became subjects of scientific study and illustration.

So, come along with me as we travel across different parts of the world and through different periods of history to discover how birds slowly found their place in human art.

This article is also my little tribute to everyone who shares this fascination with birds, birdwatchers, nature lovers, avian art collectors, and anyone who has ever paused to admire a bird, whether in the wild or framed on a wall. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I did.

The First Birds in Art

         To find the earliest bird art, we have to travel back to prehistoric times, when people painted on cave walls using natural pigments made from charcoal, clay and minerals. Ancient artists have been showing birds in their work for over 50,000 years i.e. even before the historic period.

These caves are like windows into the past. They show us the animals our ancestors lived with, hunted and admired thousands of years ago. Most of the paintings feature large mammals such as bison, horses, deer and mammoths. Bird paintings, however, are few.

Some of the oldest known bird depictions have been found in prehistoric sites in Europe, Australia and India. Although they are rare, they give us a fascinating glimpse of how early humans saw the birds around them. I have listed some examples to show the evolution of bird art throughout  the pre-historic and historic period:

Prehistoric Period

Palaeolithic Period – 3 million years ago - 10,000 B.C.E. 

Arnhem Cave Painting (AUSTRALIA) 40,000 - 50,000 B.C.E.

(A pair of Genyornis newtoni, extinct birds depicted on a rock in Australia)

         A cave painting dating back to the Palaeolithic period (50,000-40,000 years ago) was discovered two years ago in Arnhem Land, a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Archaeologists confirmed it to be a depiction of 'Genyornis newtoni', an extinct bird, painted in red ochre. This painting provided evidence that Genyornis coexisted with humans for a significant period. It also suggests that one of our prehistoric ancestors, who was an artist, recorded it on cave walls for future generations, possibly making him one of the early artists in the human history.

Lascaux cave painting (FRANCE) - 17,000 to 15,000 B.C.E.

(The Bird Man of Lascaux: Lascaux cave paintings, depicting a wounded bull, a man and a bird.)

         Another Cave art was found in the Lascaux cave, in the Dordogne region, southwestern France dated to the Upper Palaeolithic period ( c.17,000 to 15,000 B.C.E.). Even though the cave walls are filled with thousands of animals and human paintings there is this one bird on one of the walls where you will see a bird depicted along with a wounded bull and a man, often called the ‘Bird Man’ scene, one of the most debated images in all of prehistoric art. 

Mesolithic Period 10,000 – 4,000 B.C.E. 

 

Bhimbetka Cave Paintings (India)

Earliest paintings c. 8000 BCE, with additions continuing into later periods

           Our journey now takes us to central India, where the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters in Madhya Pradesh preserve one of the world’s richest collections of prehistoric rock art. Recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bhimbetka is home to more than 750 rock shelters, with over a hundred containing paintings created across thousands of years. These artworks portray wildlife, hunting scenes, rituals, human figures and the natural world, painted in shades of red, white, green, brown and black.  Among these paintings are some of India’s earliest known depictions of birds. Here are few notable examples;

Pachmarhi Cave Painting (INDIA)

          Another early bird art from India, from the Pachmarhi caves:  Pachmarhi caves are some of the oldest painted rock shelters in India, located in the Pachmarhi hills in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Apart from human figures, ancient artists have depicted many wild animals like bison, deer, elephants, horses, bulls, wild boars, buffaloes, crocodiles and a very few birds such as peacocks, ostriches and fowl.

(A fowl art from Pachmarhi caves, Madhya Pradesh) 

          Also there’s another bird art found on the Ambadevi rocks, Betul District, Madhya Pradesh. After nearly decade-long research, Dr. VT Ingole, a professor and his team from Amravati district of Maharashtra, has discovered that, Ostriches existed in Indian sub-continent, nearly 15,000 to 25,000 years ago, particularly in Vidarbha region. This bird art has clearly proved Indians, that the ostriches once roamed on the landscapes of Indian peninsula. Isn’t that an amazing information?!

(An ostrich art from Ambadevi rocks, Madhya Pradesh)

I had been looking through so many cave paintings, they only made me more curious. If birds were around people all the time, why do they appear so rarely in prehistoric art?

Instead of answering my question, the Bird Man scene left me with even more questions. If birds were already finding their way into prehistoric art, when did they become more than just an occasional subject? To answer that, I had to leave the caves behind and step into the world of ancient civilizations.

Historic Period - Ancient Age 3,000 B.C.E. to 500 C.E.

Birds Become More Than Just Animals

       Leaving the caves behind, I stepped in to the world of Ancient civilization.

Something had changed.

Birds were no longer appearing only once in a while on cave walls. They were becoming part of everyday life, religion and mythology. People began carving them into stone, painting them on pottery, decorating temples with them and even worshipping some of them as sacred beings.

It made me wonder what had changed.

Of course, birds themselves hadn’t changed. People had.

As humans settled down, built cities and developed religions, they began looking at birds differently. They weren’t just creatures flying overhead anymore. They became messengers of the gods, symbols of kingship, protectors, guides and signs of good fortune.

From this point onwards, birds weren’t simply painted because they existed.

They were painted because they meant something.

And that, I think, was one of the biggest turning points in the history of bird art.

Let’s begin with one of the world’s earliest civilizations…

Mesopotamia (2400 - 2000 B.C.E.)  

             One of the earliest known depictions of birds in art comes from the Al-Ubaid Bird Frieze at the Temple of Ninhursag, near the ancient city of Ur (c. 2400 BCE). Once believed to portray ducks, recent research suggests the carved limestone birds may instead represent a mix of geese, coots, pigeons and doves, inspired by the rich birdlife of Mesopotamia’s marshlands.

Al-Ubaid Bird Frieze (Temple of Ninhursag, c. 2400 BCE)

A few centuries later, Mesopotamian artisans also created beautifully carved duck-shaped stone weights, whose unmistakable duck features contrast with the Al-Ubaid birds, highlighting the artists’ keen observation of different bird species. Together, these works reveal that birds had already become an important subject in Mesopotamian art more than 4,000 years ago.

4 in. × 8 1/16 in. × 3 15/16 in. Wt. 2470.1 grams

Duck-shaped stone weight (Ur III period, ca. late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BCE)

What struck me here wasn’t just the age of these carvings, it was how specific they were. Someone four thousand years ago cared enough to tell a goose apart from a duck.

Egyptian Civilisation 3000 B.C.E - 100 C.E.

           Every year, the skies above the Nile filled with birds. Situated along one of the world’s great migratory flyways, ancient Egypt welcomed hundreds of resident and migratory bird species that found food and shelter in its marshes, wetlands and riverbanks. Over time, these birds became inseparable from Egyptian life. They provided food, inspired artists, appeared in hieroglyphs, represented gods and kings, and even guided beliefs about the afterlife.

Ancient Egyptian artists observed birds with extraordinary accuracy. Modern ornithologists have provisionally identified around 211 bird species from Egyptian mummies, skeletal remains, hieroglyphs, paintings, sculptures and other artefacts dating from around 4000 BCE to AD 395. Remarkably, nearly 100 of these species can be identified from artworks and hieroglyphs alone, demonstrating the exceptional observational skills of Egyptian artists.

 

(Bird art collection from Egyptian civilisation)

Ducks and Geese:

             No birds appear more frequently in Egyptian art than ducks and geese. They thrived in the fertile marshes of the Nile, where they were hunted using large clap nets and later raised in temple and household poultry yards. They were offered to the gods, buried with the dead as funerary offerings, and became enduring symbols of abundance, fertility and the life-giving Nile.

(Geese from c. 2575 - 2551 B.C.E.)

(Duck art from Egyptian civilisation, 2700 - 2200  B.C.E.)

 Cranes:

Graceful cranes were another familiar sight along the Nile. The Common Crane and the Demoiselle Crane appear repeatedly in Old Kingdom tomb paintings, often shown being herded, fattened or presented as offerings to temples. Some were even kept within elite households. Their elegant forms and long legs made them a favourite subject for Egyptian artists, who captured their movements with remarkable accuracy.

(Cranes from the tomb of Ti, Saqqara, Ancient Egypt, c. 2498 - 2450 B.C.E.)

Bird Mural - The Green Room of Amarna Palace; 1332 B.C.E.

(Replica of Bird mural by Nina de Garis Davies of the 3,300-year-old Egyptian mural from the ‘Green room’ of North Palace at Amarna.)            

       One of the most breathtaking examples of bird art from ancient Egypt comes from the Green Room of the North Palace at Amarna, built during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten around 1332 B.C.E.

The walls were transformed into a lush Nile marsh. Papyrus swayed across the room, flowering plants filled the landscape, and birds flew, perched and hunted among the reeds. More than three thousand years later, these paintings remain so precise that modern ornithologists have been able to identify many of the species portrayed, including the Pied Kingfisher, pigeons and several other wetland birds.

Believed to have been part of the palace of Meritaten, the eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, the Green Room reflects the Egyptians’ extraordinary appreciation of the natural world. Rather than simply decorating a palace, the artists recreated the living landscape of the Nile inside its walls.

(Pigeon, winter’s Wagtail, heaven’s scent and pied Kingfisher- Replica of Bird mural by Nina de Garis Davies of the 3,300-year-old Egyptian mural from the ‘Green room’ of North Palace at Amarna.)

Birds in Egyptian Belief

To the ancient Egyptians, birds were far more than creatures of the marshes. They carried deep spiritual meaning. The falcon represented Horus, the divine protector of kingship. The ibis symbolized Thoth, the god of wisdom, writing and knowledge. The vulture became an emblem of protection and motherhood.

Perhaps the most beautiful symbol was the ba, one aspect of the human soul, depicted as a bird with a human head. After death, it was believed to leave the tomb, travel freely between the worlds of the living and the dead, and return again with the rising sun.

Yet these birds were never imagined creatures. They were inspired by the real birds that filled the skies, marshes and riverbanks of the Nile. This close relationship between symbolism and observation gave Egyptian bird art its remarkable character.

What fascinates me most is not only the beauty of Egyptian bird paintings, but the artists who created them. They observed birds with extraordinary patience and precision, recording their posture, movement and behaviour so faithfully that, more than three thousand years later, modern ornithologists can still identify many of the species they painted. Their work is more than art, it is one of the earliest visual records of natural history.

Indus Valley Civilisation  - 3,300 B.C.E to 1,300 B.C.E. 

            Nestled along the fertile floodplains of the Indus and Saraswati river systems, the Indus Valley Civilization flourished across present-day India and Pakistan as one of the world’s earliest urban cultures. Its well-planned cities, thriving ports and extensive trade networks reflect a society that lived in close harmony with its surroundings. Among the many animals represented in Harappan art, birds appear again and again, offering a quiet glimpse into the natural world that surrounded them.

Unlike the grand wall paintings and temple carvings of ancient Egypt, Harappan birds are found on everyday objects. At Lothal, one of the civilization’s most important port towns, potters decorated vessels with graceful images of cranes, storks, ducks, swans, peacocks and other waterbirds. Some stand among reeds, others perch on branches, fly through the air or hold fish in their beaks. These are not merely decorative patterns, but lively scenes where birds, trees and water come together to reflect the landscapes of the Harappan world. The excavation report even notes that these paintings resemble the birds commonly seen in the wetlands around ancient Lothal.

(Large storage jar from Indus ValleyCivilisation)

(Pages from Memoirs of Archaeological survey of India, Lothal- A harappan port town 1955-62 vol 2)

(Images from Puratattva - No.35, 2004-2005, Indian Archaeological society , New Delhi (Editor K.N. Dikshit))

Birds were also shaped in clay and cast in copper. Terracotta figures of ducks, swans and peacocks have been discovered at Lothal, carefully modelled with long necks, pointed beaks and delicately formed tails. Some were made as wheeled toys, suggesting that birds were part of everyday life and childhood as much as artistic expression. Copper craftsmen created elegant bird-headed pins, swan-like figures and a finely modelled crested fowl, showing that birds inspired artisans working in different materials.

(Clay figurines from Harappan / Indus Valley Civilisation Artefacts, National Museum, New Delhi)

(Clay Bird from Harappan / Indus Valley Civilisation Artefacts, National Museum, New Delhi)

These birds are not mythical creatures but familiar inhabitants of rivers, marshes and coastal wetlands. Their repeated appearance across pottery, terracotta and copper objects suggests that Harappan artists drew inspiration from careful observation of the world around them. Long before field guides or nature journals, they were quietly recording the birds that shared their landscape.

It made me wonder if some Harappan potter, thousands of years ago, felt the same quiet thrill I do when I spot a bird I don’t recognise.

 

Ancient China – Liangzhu Culture (c.3300-2200 B.C.E)  

        Some of the earliest bird representations in Chinese art come from the Liangzhu culture, where artisans carved elegant jade bird pendants and incorporated bird motifs into ritual objects. Created over 4,000 years ago, these finely crafted designs suggest that birds held symbolic and spiritual significance in early Chinese society. Their graceful forms reflect not only exceptional craftsmanship but also the enduring importance of birds in Chinese art and culture.

Jade pendant in the shape of a bird with outstretched wings, c.4500-3000 BC. Size: 8.8 x 8.7cm

Greek Civilization (Archaic Period, C. 750 - 500 B.C.E.)                 

By the time we reach ancient Greece, birds acquired a new elegance. They were no longer simply painted as familiar creatures of everyday life but became an integral part of Greek decorative art. Graceful waterbirds, owls, swans and roosters glided across finely crafted bowls, drinking cups and vases, their forms carefully balanced within the flowing curves of the pottery itself.

The East Greek Bird Bowl carries a single stylised bird at its centre, surrounded by simple geometric patterns, the same quiet impulse I’d already seen in Harappan pottery and Egyptian carvings, birds finding their way onto the objects people used every day. Not every pot carried one, though, and that makes me think the choice wasn’t random. I like to believe that whoever painted a bird at the centre of an ordinary bowl must have felt something for birds themselves, bird lovers too, watching the same birds I now watch, thousands of years apart.

(Bowl from Paros, probably end of 8th century BC. Archaeological museum of Paros)


(Bronze bird, ca. 750–700 BCE, H. 4 in. (10.2 cm))

Attributed to the Group of the Vienna Amphora, mid-6th century BCE, diameter 5 13/16in. (14.8cm)

Terracotta skyphos (deep drinking cup), ca. 500 BCE, H. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm); diameter 6 1/8 in. (15.6 cm); width with handles 8 1/4 in. (21 cm)

 

Birds Enter Myth and Faith

Birds were no longer just being carved onto temples or painted onto pottery. They had become part of stories. Artists began using them to express spiritual beliefs, tell legends and bring sacred places to life.

One place where this transformation is beautifully preserved is the Indian subcontinent. Here, Birds appear not merely as decoration, but as symbols, companions and storytellers. Whether carved into the gateways of ancient stupas, painted across cave walls or woven into mythology, they became an inseparable part of its artistic and spiritual heritage.

For the first time, birds were no longer just subjects in art, they had become characters, symbols and storytellers.

 

Birds of the Great stupa - (India) Sathavahana Period (100 B.C.E. To 100 C.E.

         By the time the Great Stupa at Sanchi reached its present form under the Satavahanas, birds had become far more than decorative motifs. They were woven into the visual language of Buddhist art, carrying symbolic and spiritual meaning.

Among them, the peacock and the hamsa (swans or sacred geese) appear frequently on the carved gateways and railings, creating scenes that celebrate the beauty of the natural world while reinforcing Buddhist ideals. 

In Indian tradition, the hamsa symbolised purity, wisdom and spiritual discernment, while the peacock represented beauty, renewal and immortality. Together, these birds transformed the stone carvings into more than architectural ornament, they became part of a sacred visual language that connected nature with the path to enlightenment.

 

(Peacock art on the Great Stupa" No.1, Sanchi. 1st century BCE.)

(Bird art on the 3rd Panel (left pillar front face) - Miracle of the Buddha walking on the River Nairanjana.

(Bird art from Sanchi Stupa, 2nd Panel ( left pillar inner face) - Buddha tames the Naga at Uruvila.

(Peacock art from 2nd Panel, Sanchi Stupa 1 Eastern gateway- Procession of king Suddhodana from Kapilavastu)

Unlike the birds of earlier civilizations, which were often depicted as part of everyday life or nature, the birds at Sanchi served a deeper purpose. They invited pilgrims to reflect on the harmony between the natural world and the path towards enlightenment.

 

Medieval Period 500 C.E. - 1400 C.E.

           I browsed and found few amazing bird arts from the medieval period. Sharing those artworks here, to show you how the medieval artists’ used their imaginations. Some were meant for religious reasons, while others were just for decoration.

Ajanta Frescoes (INDIA) 500 C.E. to 600 C.E. 

Crane Art from (Ajanta Caves)

A Duck from Ajanta frescoes -Cave #16, Maharashtra, India, ca. 500 -700C.E.

(Bird art from Ajanta cave ceiling)

(Birds from Ajanta Frescoes recreated by Vijay Kulkarni )

The Ajanta frescoes are amongst the highest achieved by Indian fine arts from prehistoric cave paintings to the modern art. 

Birds in Pallava Rock-cut Art (c. 630–668 CE CE)

      One of the finest examples of birds appearing in early Indian narrative art is the magnificent Descent of the Ganges (also known as Arjuna’s Penance) at Mahabalipuram, carved during the Pallava dynasty in the 7th century CE. Stretching across a massive granite cliff, the relief brings an entire landscape to life with gods, sages, animals and birds living together in harmony.  

Birds, including what are generally interpreted as water birds or swans (hamsa-like birds) near the hermitage and river scene. Here birds become part of a larger narrative about nature, sacred landscapes and the descent of the Ganges. Rather than standing alone as decorative motifs, the birds become part of a larger story, adding movement, balance and a sense of life to one of India’s greatest masterpieces of rock-cut sculpture.

Descent of the Ganges (Arjuna’s Penance), Mahabalipuram (Pallava Dynasty, c. 630–668 CE).

Birds Find New Meanings

        

      As I travelled further through the history of bird art, I noticed another quiet transformation. Now, birds weren’t just characters in a story. They were carrying meaning of their own. A single bird could express faith, hope, sacrifice or eternal life without a single word being written. Across the churches, monasteries and manuscripts of medieval Europe, birds became a visual language. Artists filled mosaics, stained glass and illuminated books with doves, peacocks, eagles, pelicans and goldfinches, each chosen not just for its beauty, but for the meaning it carried.

The Dove

The dove became one of the most recognisable birds in Christian art, symbolising peace, hope and the Holy Spirit. It appears repeatedly in mosaics, manuscripts and paintings, often descending from the heavens as a sign of the divine.

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna – Dove mosaics (5th century CE)

The Peacock

       In medieval Europe, the peacock was believed to represent immortality because its flesh was thought not to decay. Whether or not the belief was true, the bird became a popular symbol of eternal life, appearing in church mosaics, sculptures and manuscripts.

Peacock mosaic from the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. (6th century CE)

The Eagle      

         Majestic and powerful, the eagle came to symbolise spiritual vision, divine authority and strength. It was closely associated with Saint John the Evangelist and became a familiar figure in church art and illuminated manuscripts.

 

Eagle from the Book of Kells or another medieval Gospel manuscript. (800 CE)

The Pelican

    One of the most fascinating symbols of medieval art is the pelican. According to a popular belief of the time, a mother pelican would wound her own breast to feed her young with her blood. Although this legend is not based on the bird’s real behaviour, it became a powerful symbol of self-sacrifice and appeared in churches, manuscripts and bestiaries across Europe.

Pelican Feeding Her Young, c. 1278-1300 CE. Illuminated manuscript (tempera, ink, gold leaf on parchment) Franco-Flemish (southern Low Countries) Source: British Library, Royal MS 12 F XIII, f. 135r

The Goldfinch

        The tiny goldfinch often appears in paintings of the Christ Child. Its red face was associated with Christ’s Passion, making it a small bird with profound symbolic meaning. Over time, it became one of the most recognisable birds in Renaissance religious paintings. People painted goldfinches, which also meant sacrifice, resurrection, the soul, or mortality.

(A Renaissance Madonna and Child with a Goldfinch, by Raphael)

Birds Through the Eyes of Science

       As I continued through history, I noticed something unexpected.

For thousands of years, birds had been painted because they were sacred, symbolic or part of a story. But somewhere along the way, people began looking at birds differently. Instead of asking what they represented, they started asking how they lived, how they flew and what made each species unique.

1. Frederick II

         One of the earliest people to make this shift was Frederick II. Around 1240 CE, he wrote De Arte Venandi cum Avibus (The Art of Falconry by Frederick II), one of the most remarkable books ever written about birds. Rather than relying on myths or old beliefs, Frederick carefully observed birds in flight, studied their behaviour and recorded what he saw. His beautifully illustrated manuscript reminds us that curiosity, not just imagination, was beginning to shape the way birds were represented in art.

Frederick II on the second page of the "Manfred manuscript" (Biblioteca Vaticana)

Illuminated Manuscript “De arte venandi cum avibus” by Frederick II – Southern Italy, 1258–1266 – Rome.

 

Modern Period (1400 – 1700 C.E.)

2. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Leonardo da Vinci and the Science of Flight

        Further along this journey, I found one of history’s greatest observers, Leonardo da Vinci.

Unlike many artists before him, Leonardo wasn’t satisfied with simply painting birds. He wanted to understand how they flew. He spent years watching birds in flight, sketching their wings, studying the movement of feathers and recording his observations in notebooks. These studies eventually became the Codex on the Flight of Birds, where art, engineering and a deep curiosity about nature came together.

Although Leonardo left behind very few finished paintings of birds, his notebooks tell a different story. They remind us that sometimes the greatest masterpiece isn’t a painting at all, it’s the act of carefully observing the natural world.

3. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)

Albrecht Dürer and the Art of Seeing

     Deeper into the Renaissance, another artist stopped me in my tracks, Albrecht Dürer.

Unlike Leonardo, who was fascinated by the mechanics of flight, Dürer focused on the bird itself. He observed nature with extraordinary patience, capturing every feather, colour and texture with remarkable precision. One of the finest examples is his famous watercolour, Wing of a European Roller. Painted over 500 years ago, it remains one of the most breathtaking studies of a bird ever created.

Looking at it today, it’s easy to forget that this wasn’t painted in the age of cameras or field guides. It is a quiet reminder of what careful observation and an artist’s patience can achieve.

4. Ustad Mansur - The Emperor’s Bird Painter (c.1580-1624) 

This journey then brought me back to India, this time to the magnificent court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, whose fascination with nature encouraged artists to observe the world with remarkable accuracy.

Among them was Ustad Mansur, often regarded as one of history’s greatest natural history artists. His paintings capture birds with astonishing precision, revealing not just their colours but also their posture, proportions and character. At a time when photography did not exist, Mansur was documenting the natural world with a level of observation that still inspires artists today.

His paintings of the Siberian Crane, the Dodo and the Turkey remain some of the earliest and most important visual records of these remarkable birds, reminding us that art can also preserve history. Here are some of his bird paintings from the 1600s.

(Dipper -by Ustad Mansur, 1620 C.E.)

(Great Hornbill by Ustad Mansur, (1612 C.E.)

(Turkey cock by Mansur (1612 C.E.)

 
(Gyrfalcon by Ustad Mansur-1619, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

(Ustad Mansur’s  Siberian crane dated 1625 C.E.)    

               This Siberian crane by Mansur was made way before it was formally described and given a binomial name by Peter Simon Pallas in 1773.

(Mallard ducks by Ustad Mansur from 1620s; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

(Dodo of Ustad Mansur from 1610 C.E.)

The Dodo bird in the middle is my subject from the above bird art of Ustad Mansur, dated 1610. This is one of the few coloured images of the dodo made from a living specimen  before it went extinct in 1681C.E. Two live specimens were brought to India in the 1600s according to Peter Mundy, a 16th century English traveler and a writer. So, the dodo in the painting is believed to be one of those. Other birds depicted are Loriculus galgulus (upper left), Tragopan melanocephalus (upper right), Anser indicus (lower left) and Pterocles indicus (lower right).

Also, Around the same time (1626-28 C.E.) in Europe, there was another  Do-do painting, created by Roelant Savery, a Flanders-born, Dutch Golden Age painter. It was known as “Edward’s Dodo”!

(Edward’s Dodo by Roelant Savery in 1626 - GREECE)              

          Do-do birds were first discovered by Portuguese sailors in 1507 C.E during an expedition to Indonesia. Later in 1626 Roelant Savery painted a Dodo with few other birds. Since then it has become the standard image of a Dodo specimen, since this species was wiped out from the face of the earth in less than 200 years it was discovered. This bird went extinct in 1681 C.E.. Later Father of British Ornithology, George Edwards gave this Painting to the British Museum hence the name of the painting. 

Age of Exploration

            As I moved into the Age of Exploration and the early colonial period, the world suddenly seemed much bigger.

European powers were establishing trade routes and colonies across Asia, Africa and the Americas. Ships no longer carried only sailors. Many expeditions also included physicians, missionaries, botanists, naturalists, artists and illustrators, all eager to study and record the unfamiliar landscapes, people, plants and animals they encountered.

Among their most remarkable discoveries were birds unlike any they had seen before, vivid parrots, hummingbirds, birds-of-paradise, toucans and countless other species. The more they travelled, the more they realised how little they knew about the natural world. That growing curiosity gave rise to a new generation of artists who painted birds not just for their beauty, but to understand and document them. Somewhere along the way, art and science had quietly found each other.

 

1. Mark Catesby – Birds in Their Natural World (1683–1749)

      

In this new era, I discovered the work of Mark Catesby, one of the pioneers of natural history illustration.

What fascinated me most was that his birds didn’t exist on blank pages. They perched on flowering branches, fed on native fruits and became part of the landscapes they called home. Looking through his illustrations, I realised they were more than portraits of birds, they were portraits of entire ecosystems.

 

Published in The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Catesby’s illustrations showed something that had rarely been seen before. Birds were no longer separated from the world around them. They became part of forests, rivers and flowering plants, reminding us that every bird has a home and every landscape has its own story.

2. John James Audubon – Bringing Birds to Life (1785–1851 C.E.)

       As I continued turning the pages of history, I came across an artist whose work felt unlike anything I had seen before John James Audubon.

Until then, many bird illustrations had focused on carefully recording a species. Audubon took a different approach. His birds stretched their wings, hunted, perched, fought and flew. They no longer looked like specimens on a page they looked alive.

His monumental book, Birds of America, featured life-sized illustrations of hundreds of North American birds. Looking through its pages, I couldn’t help but feel that Audubon wasn’t simply painting birds. He was capturing moments from their lives, reminding us that every bird has its own behaviour, personality and story.

The Birds of America; from original drawings by John James Audubon; London: Pub. by the author, 1827–1838

3. John Gould & Elizabeth Gould – A Partnership that Changed Bird Illustration (1830s–1880s)

There was one more remarkable chapter in this history of bird art that I couldn’t leave out. This time, it wasn’t just the work of one artist, but a remarkable partnership that gave us some of the most beautiful bird illustrations ever created.

Together, John Gould and Elizabeth Gould produced some of the most beautiful bird books ever published. Their illustrations combined scientific accuracy with extraordinary elegance, capturing every feather, colour and posture with remarkable care. From dazzling hummingbirds and birds-of-paradise to the unique birds of Australia, their work introduced readers to an astonishing diversity of species from around the world.

Looking through their illustrations, I couldn’t help but admire the balance between art and science. Every plate feels carefully observed, yet beautifully composed, a reminder that scientific illustration can also be a work of art.

Tragopan hastingsii from A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains

Lophophorus impeyanus, from A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains

Amadina gouldiae in Birds of Australia

green-billed toucan, saffron toucanet, and quetzal.

Red Footed Falcon from vol. 1 of Birds of Europe

The artist credit on the lower left corner of the plates of Birds of Europe does not just bear Elizabeth’s name. Instead, her initial E. is preceded by a J., as John claimed artistic credit for the composition of the designs.

When Bird Art Reached Everyone         

        As I reached the nineteenth century, I realised another quiet revolution had taken place.

For thousands of years, beautiful bird paintings belonged mostly to temples, palaces, wealthy collectors and royal libraries. Most people would never have had the chance to own them.

Printing changed everything.

Advances in chromolithography made it possible to reproduce colourful bird illustrations in remarkable detail. For the first time, bird art travelled beyond museums and private collections, finding its way into schools, libraries and ordinary homes.

 

 

 

 (These are some of the Bird arts of Theodore Jasper c. 1880s. - NORTH AMERICA from Purathanam collection) 

Among the artists of this new era, one name stood out to me, Theodore Jasper.

Best known for the illustrations in Studer’s Popular Ornithology: The Birds of North America, Jasper created some of the finest examples of nineteenth-century bird art. Although the book was written by Jacob Henry Studer, it was Jasper’s paintings that brought its pages to life. With extraordinary attention to feather detail, posture and colour, his illustrations balanced scientific accuracy with artistic elegance. Published using chromolithography, the book featured around 119 beautifully printed plates celebrating the remarkable diversity of North American birds.

To my surprise, I recently came across twenty original Theodore Jasper chromolithographs, most likely from one of the earliest editions. I never imagined that I would one day hold some of these very prints in my own hands. On the back of each print was a small seal that read, “1895 – Public Library, Fitchburg, Massachusetts.” I found myself wondering about the journey they had taken over the past 130 years, from the shelves of a public library in America to my hands here in India.

Long before we learnt to write our stories, we painted birds.

On the walls of caves, beside the Nile, among the cities of the Indus, across the stone gateways of Buddhist monuments, within the courts of Mughal emperors, and later in the pages of natural history books, birds have quietly accompanied every chapter of human civilisation.

Yet it was never only about the birds.

Every feather carefully carved into stone, every painted wing and every delicate illustration tells us something about the people who created it, their beliefs, their curiosity, their relationship with the land, and the world they wished to remember.

Thousands of years have passed, but that quiet act of looking up has never changed.

Perhaps that is why these works continue to move us today. They remind us that long before cameras, field guides or binoculars, someone stood beneath the same sky, watched the same flight, and felt that a bird was worth remembering.

The Theodore Jasper chromolithographs in the Purathanam collection are part of that continuing story. More than a century after they were printed, they remain a beautiful reminder of the enduring relationship between birds, art and human curiosity.

If you would like to explore these original nineteenth-century prints, Please checkout this link for Jasper’s Bird art from 1880s.

 

References

Prehistoric Bird Art & Cave Paintings:

Clottes, Jean. Cave Art. Phaidon Press.

UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.

Dubey-Pathak, M. (2014). The Rock Art of the Bhimbetka Area in India. Adoranten, 2014

Dr. V. T. Ingole et al. Research on the ostrich petroglyphs of Ambadevi, Betul District, Madhya Pradesh.

Indus Valley Civilization:

Memoirs of Archaeological survey of India, Lothal - A harappan port town 1955-62 (vol. 2)

Puratattva - No.35, 2004-2005, Indian Archaeological society , New Delhi (Editor K.N. Dikshit)

Ancient Egypt:

Between the heaven and earth- Birds in Ancient Egypt edited by Rosen Bailleul - Lesuer

Leonardo da Vinci. Codex on the Flight of Birds.

Kemp, Martin. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man.

John James Audubon:

Audubon, John James. The Birds of America.

National Audubon Society.

John Gould:

Gould, John. The Birds of Great Britain.

Natural History Museum, London.

Theodore Jasper & Chromolithography:

Studer’s Popular Ornithology: The Birds of North America.

Image Credits

Public domains , Getty’s Open Content Program, Pinterest, www.kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com, Pinterest, Wikipedia, www.digitalcollections.lib.washington, http://www.taxidermy4cash.com

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2024 and has been revised and expanded in 2026 with updated research, historical context and additional illustrations.