Striped-Throated Lapwing, Plate 27 from Birds of Western Africa

About this artwork

Research in Progress

Art Historical Context

William Home Lizars, a Scottish engraver and painter active in the early nineteenth century, created this striking print in 1837 as Plate 27 for the publication *Birds of Western Africa*. Lizars specialized in precise natural-history illustrations, often collaborating on ambitious ornithological projects that combined scientific accuracy with artistic refinement. His work helped bring the diversity of African birdlife to European audiences at a time when global exploration was rapidly expanding knowledge of the natural world. Executed as a print, the image reflects the era’s favored technique of hand-colored engraving or lithography, which allowed fine detail and subtle coloration to be reproduced affordably for books and portfolios. These prints served both as practical references for scientists and as objects of aesthetic appreciation, bridging the worlds of art and empirical study. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection through the gift of Hamill and Barker, the plate invites viewers to consider how nineteenth-century printmaking advanced both artistic skill and public understanding of distant ecosystems.