Wren Fine Art Print
A high quality fine art print on Hahnemühle German Etching art paper of a pair of Wrens chattering in a tree, painted by wildlife painter Charles Collins (c.1680-1744) in May 1743.
Superb Wren Fine Art Print on Museum-Quality Paper
We've meticulously reproduced Wren 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 Wren 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 Wren
Our Wren 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 Wren was among the works Collins produced for White.
The original Wren watercolour is finely painted, with remarkable detail, allowing the plumage and features of the Wren 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 Wren, 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 Eurasian Wren
This watercolour of the Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) was painted by Charles Collins in May 1743, and forms part of the Taylor White Collection, a body of 18th Century natural history watercolours.
The Range of the Wren
Despite its diminutive size, the Wren is one of the most successful small birds in the northern hemisphere, breeding across Europe, central and northeastern Asia, and parts of North America. It remains one of the most numerous breeding birds in the UK, a resilience made more remarkable by how vulnerable such a small bird is to hard winters.
Description of the Wren
The Wren’s plumage is a warm, mottled brown, providing effective camouflage among hedgerows, undergrowth and woodland edges. It is most readily identified by its small, rounded body and its short tail, characteristically held cocked upright. This distinctive silhouette, combined with quick, low, mouse-like movements through cover, makes the Wren as recognisable by behaviour as by appearance.
The species is an accomplished nest builder, constructing distinctive dome-shaped nests from moss, leaves and twigs, tucked into wall crevices, dense bushes, tree hollows or low banks. This nesting habit is reflected in the bird’s scientific name, Troglodytes, meaning “cave dweller”.
For a bird of its size, the Wren possesses a remarkably loud and complex song, delivered with a volume disproportionate to its stature. Its call is often among the first heard at dawn, and ornithologists have noted its ability to produce two distinct notes simultaneously, a rare vocal trait among British birds.
Collins’s watercolour captures the Wren with the close observational detail characteristic of the Taylor White Collection, reflecting the meticulous interest in natural history that defined 18th Century scientific illustration.
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