Audubon 1st Ed. Octavo Plate 420 ANHINGA OR BLACK - BELLIED DARTER
Item History & Price
Golden Eagle Gallery is pleased to offer Audubon's magnificent portrait of the
American Black-bellied Darter, Anhinga, Snake or Devil Bird
A rare original John James Audubon lithograph, this popular portrait of an adult and, below it, the young of this species known to the Creole as a "water-turkey" is also named "Anhinga" from the native Tupi language of Brazil and means devil bird. Nonetheless, a painstakingly d...etailed drawing begun in New Orleans in 1822 and redrawn in 1836 appeaed in Volume V of the original Royal Octavo Edition of "The Birds of America".
This lithograph was drawn on stone by William Hitchcock, (whose initials "W.H." appear beneath the center of the image), printed and hand-colored by America's finest 19th century fine art print maker, J.T. Bowen's "Lithographic Establishment" in Philadelphia, and published in a limited edition of 1, 050 copies by J.B. Chevalier, also of Philadelphia.
This piece of early 19th century fine art is 176 years old and is Plate 420 from the 1st Royal Octavo Edition of The Birds of America. It was part of the original subscription edition published on August 12, 1843.
This antique stone lithograph with original hand coloring is highly sought after by serious collectors of natural history art. This portrait is based on the priceless original painting by Audubon now in the collection of the New York Historical Society in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, that painting was also used as the basis for Plate 316 of the Havell Edition of The Birds of America published in London circa 1836.
This exquisite work displays a beautiful and graceful adult with a youth.
This rare antique lithograph is protected with an acid free all-cotton-rag museum quality custom mat, hinged with acid free conservation tape. Excellent condition, some age toning and soft creasing along edges of the sheet as appropriate for a work approaching two centuries in age, no foxing or staining, a highly collectible example. Sheet measures 10 3/8 in. x 6 1/2 in., with ample margins.
This piece of early 19th century fine art would be an ideal graduation gift.
Audubon was influenced by, and yet transformed the tradition of natural history art illustration, by placing his subjects in their natural setting and in extraordinarily life-like positions.
His predecessors and successors notably include Mark Catesby, George Edwards, Alexander Wilson, John & Elizabeth Gould, Prideaux John Selby, Edward Lear, Cornelius Nozeman, Eleazar Albin, Xaverio Manetti, Titian Ramsay Peale, Daniel Giraud Elliot, Walton Ford and others n
