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Kalawewa in Ceylon

23 x 38.75 cm
Oil on board
Signed with monogram, 1903

George Edward Lodge

George Edward Lodge FZS (1860–1954) was a renowned British illustrator of birds, a taxidermist, and an authority on falconry. At an early age, Lodge developed an interest in birds and used to explore the Lincolnshire countryside with his older brother, R.B. Lodge, who later became a famed bird photographer. Lodge attended Lincoln College of Art and later apprenticed as a wood engraver. He was a friend and close associate of Archibald Thorburn, Britain’s finest bird artist ever.

An avid sportsman, Lodge travelled abroad in search of birds and sport, visiting Norway, Sweden, the West Indies, the United States, Japan and Ceylon. Lodge’s fame as a bird artist rests on his many contributions to important bird books of his era including Bannerman’s ‘The Birds of the British Isles’ and E.C. Stuart-Baker’s ‘The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon’. Lodge took an active part in the conservation of wild life and served for many years on bodies that promoted such interests. In 1945, he was elected Vice-President of the British Ornithologists Union, the first artist to be so honored. Lodge visited Ceylon around 1903.