Animal art has its roots in antique illustrations. The era from about 1500 to 1900 was a golden age for voyages of discovery, colonisation and scientific hobbies. Expeditions usually had scientific and economic objectives, so needed talented artists to document their discoveries, leaving us with treasured antique illustrations.. Aristocrats and industrialists accumulated huge wealth from colonisation, globalisation and the industrial revolution so had plenty of spare time and money to pursue scientific hobbies such as the study of natural history, flora and fauna. They could also afford to employ some of the finest artist to illustrate animals they were interested in. The era for great illustration ended when photography became popular at the beginning of the 1900s.
Our fine art prints of animals are inspired by antique illustrations. We make them with superb pigmented inks and heavyweight 300gsm German fine art paper made from 100% cotton and spring water.