Peter Markham Scott (English, 1909-1989)

Geese in Flight oil on canvas signed and dated 1948 l.l. housed in original wooden frame 19.5 x 29.5 in. (sight) Peter Scott was a renowned naturalist and nature artist, especially known for his bird paintings. He had an early passion for hunting and went on to study zoology at Cambridge University. After selling some of his outdoors-inspired paintings when he was a student, Scott came to develop a keen interest in art, which gradually diverted him from hunting and led him to capture wildlife in paint only. After the war, Scott founded the Wildfowl Trust, a reservation including ducks, geese, and swans. Located in Slimbridge, England, it is currently known as the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and functions as a conservation institution dedicated to the protection of the wetlands and the rescue of endangered species. In his autobiography, Scott describes his relentless fascination for geese, as reflected in this painting: "There was an orange glow in the east, and out of it came skein after skein of geese, delicately traced patterns on the deep blue of the sky above. Since then I have seen pink-footed geese in flight many thousands of times, in all their winter haunts in Britain; I have followed them to their breeding grounds in Iceland, I have assisted at the capture and ringing of more than 20,000 of them; and yet, the thrill which I felt on that first morning is repeated again every time I see the great skeins stretched across the sky. The spell is as strong as ever." (Peter Scott, The Eye of the Wind, Houghton Mifflin Company Boston, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1961, pp. 75-76.)