Fork-tailed flycatcher
1827-1838
Feast your eyes on this Fork-tailed Flycatcher, a bird sporting a tail so long it looks like a black ribbon trailing through the air. John James Audubon, the 19th-century naturalist who created this masterpiece, had a rather grisly method: he used wires to pose freshly killed birds to make them look alive and dynamic. This print, featuring the bird perched among large white blossoms, comes from his famous book 'The Birds of America'. That publication was so enormous—about three feet tall—that it earned the nickname 'The Double Elephant Folio'.
- Technique
- Hand-colored engraving
- Material
- Paper
Views: 6