Winifred Austen

Winifred Maria Louise Austen (12 July 1876 – 1 November 1964) was an English illustrator, painter, etcher and aquatint engraver, particularly known for her detailed depictions of small mammals and birds.

[2] She attended the London County Council School of Arts and Crafts, where she was taught by Cuthbert Edmund Swan, an animal painter.

[1][4] Austen's favorite subjects were wild animals and birds, and she received many commissions to illustrate magazines and books.

[5] At the Royal Academy in London in 1903, she exhibited "The Day of Reckoning", a wolf pursued by hunters through a forest in snow.

[6][7] In 1908 Austen exhibited four works at the Royal Academy, ‘Brutus: Portrait of a Lion’, ‘The Dog and the Shadow’, ‘The Fox and the Stork’, and ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’.

[4] Austen's early plates were overloaded with background, which the artist ultimately completely discarded.

Austen was overly engrossed in the animals such that her work upon branches, leaves and blossoms demonstrated signs of a weakened interest.

Widgeon in Winter and A Little Covey are considered good drypoints, the latter showing strong Japanese influence.

Going in depth on the colors of the leaves in the season she was inspired by adding in hundreds of buds to the tree that her subject was sitting in.

There is detail and texture to show individual feathers in their breasts and spots on their wings and tails.