British artist Phillip Rickman was trained as an ornithological watercolorist in the school of Archibald Thornburn, who represented the bridge between advocates of feather-sharp “museum specimen” studies and those of birds rendered in their natural environments. Rickman specialized in game birds and waterfowl and was particularly adept at capturing the iridescence of plumage.

The present watercolor superbly portrays this elegant and stately bird of prey, which lives in the Arctic and is much prized by falconers for its rarity and regal bearing.