Although the modern form of taxidermy has started in England in the mid-19th Century, its roots stretch back thousands of years. Ancient civilisations practised forms of preservation through mummification and ritual preparation, demonstrating humanity’s early desire to honour, study, or symbolically retain the animal body.

One of the earliest recorded European accounts of taxidermy tells of a Dutch nobleman in the 17th century who kept a vast aviary of exotic birds, which was the pride of the city.

When a heating fault suffocated the entire collection, he sought the advice of the best chemists in Amsterdam to prevent their decay. The birds were skinned and treated with preserving substances and carefully wired to represent life. Though rudimentary, this moment marked an important shift. Preservation was no longer accidental, but intentional and restorative.

By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, taxidermy began to flourish in England, where it developed into a recognised craft. It evolved into the practice we understand today: the careful preservation of a deceased animal’s skin, mounted onto a sculpted form in a way that reflects its living posture and character.

The word taxidermy itself derives from the Greek words taxis, meaning “arrangement,” and derma, meaning “skin.” Quite literally, it translates to “the arrangement of skin” — a definition that captures both the technical precision and the artistic sensitivity the craft requires.