The Mackerel

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1879. Colour printed lithograph on later mount. Image: 14 1/8 x 20 1/2 inches; mount: :20 x 26 3/4 inches. Among the finest 19th century images of American sporting fish

Samuel A. Kilbourne, a native of Bridgetown, Maine, was an accomplished painter of natural history subjects when he decided, in 1858, to specialize in painting fish. He was extremely successful and, as the plates in this work testify, very proficient in his work. The Game Fishes... was his greatest accomplishment, and has been described as having 'the most beautiful fish plates published in this country' (Bennett). A reviewer writing in The Century magazine in 1882 wrote of Kilbourne's depictions: "Mr. Kilbourne has succeeded in a difficult task. He has succeeded in uniting in his delineation the accuracy in details of form and coloring required by the naturalist, with that freedom of style, delicacy of handling, and naturalness of surroundings demanded by the artist." The images are landscape portraits in native habitats, printed in color and mounted on card, suitable for framing.

Bennett, p.65; McGrath, p.196; Litchfield 52; Brun G94; Nissen ZBI 1630; Howell 53-325; BMNH, p.973;Gee, p.91; Westwood & Satchell, Bibliotheca Piscatoria, p.107.