Pair of Watercolors of Butterflies
John G. Williams, c. 1950s

This item is sold.  It has been placed here in our online archives as a service for researchers and collectors.

Williams Butterflies

Male

 Williams Butterflies

Female
John G. Williams (1910-1997)
Charaxes Fournierae Kigeziensis (Male and Female)
British: c. 1950s
Each titled lower margin and initialed in lower right of penciled block: J.W.
10.5 x 7.5 inches overall
7 x 4.75 inches image in penciled box
Provenance: Family of the artist
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Two original watercolors of African butterflies drawn by eminent English zoologist John G. Williams while he was Curator of the Natural History Collection in Nairobi. One shows two varieties of the female butterfly and the other of the male of the same species. Each painting combines scientific accuracy and a sophisticated aesthetic sense, with artistic arrangements of the butterflies on the page highlighting their shapes, colors and decorative patterns. These are notable for their meticulous detail, clarity of color and the way in which Williams captured the texture of the wings.

The species illustrated comes from southwest Uganda. The charaxinae are a subfamily of butterflies known for their extremely powerful flight.

John George Williams published several popular field guides with Collins publishing house in London on the national parks of East Africa (1967), the birds of East and Central Africa (1963) -- the first such field guide to African birds published -- and A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Africa (1969). These volumes were reprinted several times in subsequent years. He also published a guidebook called Safari Journal: Where to Find East Africa's Mammals and Birds (1968).