Charles Collins (painter) facts for kids
Charles Collins (around 1680 – 1744) was an Irish painter. He was best known for painting animals and still life pictures. A still life painting shows objects that don't move, like fruit, flowers, or dead animals. Collins was one of the first great still life artists in Britain. He often painted collections of valuable or fancy items.
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The Life of Charles Collins
Collins was born in Dublin, Ireland, around 1680. We don't know much about his early life. He painted using both oil paints and watercolors. He mostly created still life paintings, and he often included game animals (animals hunted for food) in his art.
Some people think he might have lived or trained in the Netherlands. This is because his work shows the influence of Dutch painters from the 1600s, like Jan Weenix and Jan Fyt.
Important Projects
In 1732, Collins painted a series called Twelve Months of Fruit for a person named Robert Furber.
He also worked with John Lee in 1736. Together, they created 12 large pictures called Icones avium cum nominibus anglicis. These pictures showed British birds in gardens and natural settings.
Later, Collins teamed up with Peter Paillou. They made many watercolor paintings of British birds and mammals for a collector named Taylor White. Collins signed 201 of these bird paintings. He even painted a Dodo! He also did some mammal studies that were not signed. These artworks were made between 1737 and 1739. In his bird paintings, Collins always included a tree stump or a grassy mound. He tried to make the birds look alive and active.
Collins passed away in London in 1744. At the time, he was known as the "Bird Painter to the Royal Society." Years later, in 1786, a newspaper called him an "Irish Master."
Charles Collins's Art Legacy
For a long time, Charles Collins's artwork was not well known. However, in 1981, the Tate Gallery in London bought one of his paintings. It was called Still Life with a Lobster on a Delft Dish (painted in 1738). This purchase brought new attention to his life and work.
Where to Find His Art
- Nine of his original 12 oil paintings from the Icones avium cum nominibus anglicis series are kept at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire, England. The other three are in a private collection in Ireland.
- The Blacker Wood Library at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, has the largest collection of his work from the Taylor White collection.
- You can also find his art in other museums, including the British Museum, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland, Leeds Art Gallery, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
