The Fire-backed Pheasant of Java

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Natural history painter Sydenham Teast Edwards was born in Monmouthshire, south east Wales; the son of a Welsh schoolmaster. He studied botanical painting under William Curtis and supplied illustrations to Curtis’s two publications: ‘Botanical Magazine’ and ‘Flora Londinensis’. However, after a falling out with Curtis, he began his own magazine, the ‘Botanical Register’. Edwards published ‘Cynographia Britannica’ in 1800 and ‘The New British Flora’ in 1812. He also illustrated R. W. Dickinson’s ‘Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening’ and made drawings for ‘Sportsman’s Magazine’. Edwards lived at addresses in Lambeth, south London, Brompton and Chelsea. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1792 to 1813. He died in Chelsea in 1819.

Places

Far East, Indonesia, China

Subjects

pheasant, diplomatic meetings & state visits

Materials & Techniques

engraving

Artist

Sydenham Teast Edwards (1769 - 1819)
William Skelton (1763 - 1848)

Title

The Fire-backed Pheasant of Java

Date

published 12 April 1796

Medium

Engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Sotheby's, 29 May 1996

GAC number

16967