author
Henry Bursill
Best known for a playful Victorian classic on making animal shadows with your hands, this 19th-century English artist mixed practical showmanship with a sculptor’s eye. His work survives both in print and in public sculpture, giving him an unusual place in Victorian visual culture.
1 Audiobook
Hand shadows to be thrown upon the wall
by Henry Bursill
About the author
Henry Wayte Bursill was a 19th-century English artist, sculptor, and writer, active in the mid-1800s. Records from sculpture reference sources place his birth in London around 1833 and his death in 1871. He exhibited work at the Royal Academy, and later reference works describe him as a sculptor, medallist, and modeller.
For many modern readers, he is remembered for Hand Shadows to Be Thrown Upon the Wall, first published in 1859. The book turns simple hand positions into birds, animals, and comic figures, pairing them with lively illustrations and making a small domestic amusement feel like a real performance.
Bursill’s career was broader than that one book. Sculpture databases and art references connect him with Victorian public sculpture as well, which helps explain why his shadow figures are so carefully observed: they were created by someone trained to think visually and shape expressive forms. Even today, that mix of craft, humor, and visual imagination makes his work easy to enjoy.