Catherine Gage (18 May 1815 – 16 February 1892) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, botanical and

ornithological Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

illustrator.

Life

Catherine Gage was born in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

on 18 May 1815, the daughter of Rev. Robert Gage and Catherine Boyd. Gage lived her entire life in the family home, Manor House on

Rathlin Island Rathlin Island ( ga, Reachlainn, ; Local Irish dialect: ''Reachraidh'', ; Scots: ''Racherie'') is an island and civil parish off the coast of County Antrim (of which it is part) in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's northernmost point. ...

. Gage died 16 February 1892 and was buried on Rathlin Island. Gage Cormorant Plate

Illustration work

Gage seems to have devoted a large portion of her life to illustrating a book by her brother Robert Gage on the birds of Rathlin Island that was never published. The book was styled on that of

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...

's ''

The Birds of America ''The Birds of America'' is a book by naturalist and painter John James Audubon, containing illustrations of a wide variety of birds of the United States. It was first published as a series in sections between 1827 and 1838, in Edinburgh and ...

''. During the course of this work she produced over five hundred watercolours of birds. She also illustrated local plants, creating a list for the

Botanical Society of Edinburgh The Botanical Society of Scotland (BSS) is the national learned society for botanists of Scotland. The Society's aims are to advance knowledge and appreciation of flowering and cryptogamic plants, algae and fungi. The Society's activities includ ...

, the abstract for which was published in the 1850 ''

Annals and Magazine of Natural History The ''Journal of Natural History'' is a scientific journal published by Taylor & Francis focusing on entomology and zoology. The journal was established in 1841 under the name ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'' (''Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.'') a ...

''. She also worked with her sister, Barbara Gage (1817–1859), illustrating the local flora as well as the fauna. When the folio of bird illustrations was auctioned in 2010, they were sold for €13,500.

References

19th-century Irish botanists Botanical illustrators Irish women botanists 1815 births 1892 deaths Artists from County Down Bird artists 19th-century Irish painters 19th-century British women scientists {{botanist-stub