The Hawksbill Turtle – Mark Catesby

A sea turtle on the sand, beside its nest of eggs. Mark Catesby shows the hawksbill turtle coming ashore on a green and ochre beach: an amber shell with overlapping plates, flippers spread, its head raised with the hooked, beak-like mouth that gives it its name. To the left, in a hollow in the sand, lies a clutch of round eggs.

The hawksbill lives on the coral reefs of tropical seas and returns to the beaches to lay its eggs at night. Its beautiful mottled shell was for centuries the source of tortoiseshell, which has made it one of the most endangered sea turtles today. Catesby drew it during his stay in the Bahamas.

Mark Catesby, naturalist of the New World

Mark Catesby (1683-1749) was an English naturalist who explored Virginia, Carolina and the Bahamas. He etched the plates of his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands himself and coloured them by hand; the second volume brings together the fish, turtles, snakes and plants of the New World.

• Artist: Mark Catesby (1683-1749)
• Date: published 1731-1743
• Technique: etching and engraving, hand-coloured
• Source: The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, vol. II, plate 39
• Format: horizontal
• Theme: hawksbill turtle, sea turtle, beach, marine life

A calm, natural image for a bathroom, a child’s room or a seaside house. Pair it with The Black Moray or The Laughing Gull, and find it in our bathroom wall art collection. Printed on thick matte archival paper, in 13 sizes from A4 to A0. Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube.