Driven Grouse 1933

Archibald Thorburn made this watercolor of grouse in flight in 1933. Wildlife art has a fascinating relationship to social class and land use in Britain. This painting depicts a ‘driven’ grouse shoot, a sport popular among the wealthy elite. ‘Driven’ shooting involves beaters who drive the birds towards the guns who are waiting. This was enabled by the Enclosure Acts, laws that privatized common land for the benefit of wealthy landowners, and changed the landscape through drainage and planting to optimize the habitat for grouse and other game birds. Thorburn, a celebrated artist, captured this activity with skill and attention to detail. Paintings such as these reflect the values of a particular social class and time. To fully understand a work like this, we delve into historical archives and consider the wider social and economic context in which it was created and consumed.