A Dedication (to all those who love the beautiful and mourn over the senseless and cruel destruction of bird life and beauty)

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An angel grieves the death of beautiful wild birds, sacrificed on an altar to vanity. With this painting Watts was criticising a popular fashion for feathers, used widely in the nineteenth century to decorate hats and clothes. He strongly objected to the cruelty of this practice.

The artist’s concerns for animal welfare were shared by a growing public. Organisations like the Plumage League and the Society for the Protection of Birds formed to protect certain species, such as the decorative - and therefore highly sought-after - Great Crested Grebe.