Red-breasted snipe
1827-1838
John James Audubon was obsessed with showing birds as living creatures, not just stiff museum specimens. Here, he captures the Red-breasted Snipe in two different moods: the rusty-red bird standing alert and the greyish one foraging in the mud. This plate comes from his massive masterpiece 'The Birds of America,' a book so huge it required special 'Double Elephant' paper to fit the birds at life-size. Audubon famously shot his subjects and used wires to pose them in these dynamic, naturalistic stances.
- Technique
- Hand-colored engraving
- Material
- Paper
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