Ralph Shillito Thompson (3 June 1913 – 3 May 2009) was a British

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

and book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, who specialized in pen and ink sketches of animal subjects. His most noteworthy works are his series of book illustrations for the famous naturalist and author

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservation movement, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo o ...

in the period 1954 to 1964 when Durrell was associated with the publishing firm of

Rupert Hart-Davis Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his ''Hugh Walpole'' (1952), as an editor, f ...

. During this period of time, he visited Gerald Durrell's

Jersey Zoo Jersey Zoo (formerly Durrell Wildlife Park) is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell (1925–1995). It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. ...

numerous times to sketch his subjects, especially when working on the illustrations of ''Menagerie Manor''. He has illustration credits for numerous other animal books and stories mostly for children and young adults, as well as commissioned animal posters and drawings. Thompson also illustrated picture books like ''Chess Dream in a Garden'' by

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

. He was the author of three books on animal illustration. *''A Brush with Animals'',

1963 *''An Artist's Safari'',

Collins Collins may refer to: People Surname Given name * Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat * Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration * Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middl ...

1970

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his w ...

issued a sketchbook of Thompson in 1970 titled ''Animals Through the Eyes of an Artist''. An exhibition of his works was part of the 2009

Cookham Cookham is a historic Thames-side village and civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End. Cookham forms the southernmost and most rural part of High Wyco ...

Festival.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Ralph British illustrators Members of the Order of the British Empire 1913 births 2009 deaths