Jemima Blackburn

Short Biography

Jemima Wedderburn Blackburn (1 May 1823 – 9 August 1909) was a Scottish painter whose work gives us an evocative picture of rural life in 19th-century Scotland. One of the most popular illustrators in Victorian Britain, she illustrated 27 books. Her greatest ornithological achievement was the second edition of her Birds from Nature (1868). Most of the illustrations are watercolors, with early paintings often including some ink work. A few are collages, in which she cut out a bird’s outline and transferred it to a different background, in a similar manner to John James Audubon. Her many watercolours show daily family life in the late 19th-century Scottish Highlands as well as fantasy scenes from children's fables. She achieved widespread recognition under the initials JB or her married name Mrs Hugh Blackburn.