The Covey at Daybreak 

"The Covey at Daybreak" was painted by Archibald Thorburn, an artist working in Britain between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when dramatic social changes were underway. Thorburn’s detailed rendering of the natural world reflects a growing interest in ornithology and conservation, but also points to an important class distinction. Country sports such as hunting and falconry were closely associated with the aristocracy, functioning as symbols of wealth, power, and traditional rural life. Thorburn's art was very popular. He provided illustrations for books, and his original paintings were collected by the royal family, landed gentry, and other wealthy elites. But as the artist himself noted, they were equally popular among ordinary people, who could experience a sense of closeness to nature through inexpensive reproductions of his art. Thorburn’s meticulous depictions of wildlife, therefore, speak to the complex intersections of class, culture, and identity in Britain on the cusp of modernity.