Background
Henry was born in Brompton around 1821. He was the son of Henry James Richter, a noted painter, engraver and member of the Water Colour Society and his wife Charlotte Sophia.
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Henry Richter
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Education
A disciple of Immanuel Kant, he studied transcendental philosophy.
Career
Richter senior exhibited 150 paintings at London and his subjects included scenes from Shakespeare, the Bible and a variety of sentimental Victorian compositions. Henry"s grandfather, John Augustus Richter, was also an artist and sculptor. When his father died in 1841, they moved from Lisson Grove North to a ladies boarding house at 14 Clarendon Terrace.
Richter"s earliest bird paintings were two plates published in George Robert Gray"s Genera of birds (1844-1849).
These plates depicted owls and Clapperton"s francolin and attracted the attention of ornithologists. Richter produced about 3000 lithographic plates and watercolours for his employer.
In his will, John Gould wrote "I bequeath to my Artist H C Richter a legacy of £100 as a kind remembrance for the purchase of a ring or any other article that he may prefer." His only work after Gould"s death was for the Birds of Asia and a plate for Sir Richard Owen"s Memoirs on the extinct wingless birds of New Zealand (1878-1879). Two of his best known illustrations are those of thylacines, from Gould"s (1845-1863).
Often copied since their publication, and the most frequently reproduced, one was given further exposure by Cascade Brewery"s appropriation for its label in 1987.
Richter died on 16 March 1902 at Frithville Gardens, Hammersmith, while suffering from influenza.Jackson, Christine Elisabeth (1975). Bird illustrators: some artists in early lithography. London: H. F. & G. Witherby.
Online Computer Library Center 2176474.
