By John James Audubon
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851)
Title: "Roseate Spoonbill" (Plate 362, No. 73)
Portfolio: The Birds of America (First Royal Octavo Edition)
Year: 1840-1844
Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper
Limited edition: approx. 1,200
Printer: John T. Bowen, Philadelphia, PA
Publisher: John James Audubon and J.B. Chevalier, New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA
Sheet size: 6.75" x 10.44"
Image size: 5" x 7.63"
Reference: Ayer/Zimmer page 22; Bennett page 5; McGill/Wood page 208; Nissen No. IVB 51; Reese No. 34; Sabin No. 2364; Tyler App. I
Condition: In excellent condition
Very rare
The "Roseate Spoonbill" is one of the very top, absolute most desirable birds from Audubon's famous "Birds of America" series
Notes:
Provenance: private collection - Fleming Island, FL. Lithography and hand-coloring by American artist John T. Bowen (1801-c.1856). Comes from Audubon's famous seven volume portfolio "The Birds of America", (1840-1844) (First Royal Octavo Edition), which consists of 500 hand-colored lithographs.
Based on a composition painted in Florida in 1831 or 1832. "This beautiful and singular bird" was prized for its wings and tail feathers which were made into fans in St. Augustine.
The roseate spoonbill is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. The roseate spoonbill's pink color is diet-derived, consisting of the carotenoid pigment canthaxanthin, like the American flamingo.
To make 'The Birds of America' more affordable and widely available, in 1839 John James Audubon began the first octavo edition, a smaller version of the folio which was printed and hand-colored by J. T. Bowen in Philadelphia. Employing a new invention, the camera lucida, the images were reduced in size, rendered in intermediate drawings by John James Audubon and his son John Woodhouse, and then drawn onto lithographic stones. These miniatures exhibit a remarkable amount of attention to quality and detail, as well as a meticulous fidelity to the larger works. Some compositional changes were made in order to accommodate the smaller format. Like the Havell edition, John James Audubon’s first...
Category
1840s Victorian Watercolor Prints and Multiples
MaterialsWatercolor, Lithograph
