Ganso-canadense
1827-1838
Audubon was obsessed with showing birds in action, refusing to paint them as stiff, dead specimens like his predecessors. In this dramatic scene, a male Canada Goose stands tall with his beak wide open—likely letting out a loud honk to warn off intruders—while his mate quietly incubates eggs in the reeds behind him. This plate comes from his legendary 'Birds of America' project, a massive and ruinously expensive undertaking to document every bird species in North America at actual life size.
- Technique
- Hand-colored aquatint engraving
- Material
- Paper