Pelican Fine Art Print
A high quality fine art print on Hahnemühle German Etching art paper of a Pelican, painted by wildlife painter Charles Collins (c.1680-1744) in 1743.
Superb Pelican Fine Art Print on Museum-Quality Paper
We've meticulously reproduced Pelican Fine Art Print on museum-quality fine art paper, matched to size. The 6in x 8in print is produced on Enhanced Matte Art Paper [EMA], a heavy-duty fine art paper with a smooth, non-reflective finish. The 12in x 16in and 18in x 24in prints are produced on 310gsm Hahnemühle German Etching paper [HGE], an acid and lignin-free archival paper with a fine tooth, offering our highest level of detail and longevity.
Both papers are fade-resistant and colourfast, using pigment inks designed to preserve the clarity and depth of the original artwork for decades. Every print is produced to order from a high-resolution master file, ensuring sharp detail and accurate colour reproduction.
* Please note that images of Pelican Fine Art Print on our website are lower resolution copies of the originals, for illustrative purposes only. The actual print uses high-resolution source imagery to ensure a crisp, clear, and visually stunning final result.
The Taylor White Collection's 18th Century Watercolour Painting of the Pelican
Our Pelican comes from the original collection of Taylor White F.R.S. (1701-1772). In the mid-18th Century, White commissioned the celebrated wildlife painter Charles Collins (c.1680 - 1744) to paint a number of specimens for his collection. The watercolour of the Pelican was among the works Collins produced for White.
The original Pelican watercolour is finely painted, with remarkable detail, allowing the plumage and features of the Pelican to be seen in stunning clarity. This depth of colour and detail has been captured brilliantly through the digitisation process and is replicated here for your home or office decor, or as a thoughtful gift.
Taylor White, a barrister by profession and later Puisne Judge for Chester, was a keen naturalist and Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1725. Over nearly forty years from the 1730s until his death in 1772, he commissioned 938 watercolours of birds, mammals, fish and reptiles, including the Pelican, now held at McGill University and painted almost entirely by two artists, Charles Collins and Peter Paillou. White was a founding governor of The Foundling Hospital in London and served as its treasurer for the last twenty-five years of his life. His well-connected social and scientific circle gave his artists exceptional access to specimens: his second wife, Frances Armstrong, was the daughter of General John Armstrong, Governor of the Tower of London and Chief Royal Engineer, and White's artists painted the lions, wolves and other animals of the Royal Menagerie there. He also borrowed specimens from the British Museum, and received rare and exotic birds from friends, including the naturalist Joseph Banks, who sailed to Newfoundland in 1766, and William Harrison, who brought back specimens from voyages testing his father's marine chronometer.
The Pelican
This 18th Century watercolour of a Pelican was painted by Charles Collins in 1743, forming part of the Taylor White Collection: a remarkable body of natural history illustration commissioned in the mid-1700s and now held by McGill University Library. The bird depicted, Pelecanus occidentalis, is native to the coastlines of North and South America, where it remains a familiar and striking presence along shorelines and estuaries.
Description of the Pelican
The Pelican is instantly recognisable by its long bill and expandable throat pouch, an adaptation that allows the bird to scoop fish from the water with remarkable precision. Rather than storing food in the pouch, the Pelican uses it to drain water immediately after a catch, retaining only the fish before swallowing. This specialised feeding method sets the species apart from most other coastal birds and made it a natural subject for the detailed observational studies favoured by 18th Century natural historians.
Collins’s watercolour reflects the careful, scientific approach typical of the Taylor White Collection, in which artists worked to record plumage, form and colouring with precision rather than embellishment. The result is a study that remains as informative today as it was when first painted, offering a faithful record of the Pelican’s distinctive silhouette and bearing.
Social Habits of the Pelican
Pelicans are also notable for their social habits, often gathering in groups to rest, preen or fish cooperatively, herding shoals of fish into shallow water before feeding together. This combination of striking anatomy and sociable behaviour has long made the species a favourite subject for artists and naturalists alike, and Collins’s rendering captures both with quiet authority.
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