Farewell, William Cooper, artist of extraordinary talent

Such an eye for detail, such delicacy of touch and such patience to complete a task faithfully...

We're lucky to his work to remind us of his talent. Rest well, Mr Cooper.  Thank you!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-12/queensland-bird-illustrator-william-cooper-dies-at-home/6462116

He was a talented artist and he will be greatly missed. Thanks for posting, joanne. Godspeed, Mr. Cooper and thank you for sharing the birds of the world with us!  

Don't you also think this kind of illustrative work is forgotten or taken for granted these days? Not all artistic representation of flora and fauna can be made or should be made with a camera; for one thing, the academic discipline of illustration has a code of how to display and label each part of the specimen. For another, a truly skilled illustrator could demonstrate inner and outer elements of the specimen simultaneously yet in a lifelike situation so that working mechanisms can be seen. Cameras would find it difficult to similarly portray such detail.

I think there's a tendency to assume all such work was done decades or centuries ago. Yet we're discovering new species all the times, even as we lose them. I hope there are still artists who find their calling is for this kind of work.

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