Inner Temple’s Big Picnic

Last weekend, the annual Inner Temple Big Picnic brought families and sunshine to the gardens, and we joined the fun by creating colouring sheets for our younger visitors. The designs were adapted from Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (1770–1786), a stunning work from our printed books collection.

One of our absolute favourites (pictured below) was created by Matthew, age 10. The intensity of the colour work is arresting and the attention to detail would surely be admired by Buffon himself.

Two birds standing on two branches, one is coloured with dark brown winds, lighter brown stomach and a light orange face. The other has brown and orange wings, light brown stomach and brown face. The leaves are coloured green. An original of the drawing is alongside.