The mocking bird
1827-1838
John James Audubon captures a feathered frenzy in this dramatic plate from his masterpiece 'The Birds of America'. Three mockingbirds are in a panic, dive-bombing and screeching at a rattlesnake coiled around the tree branch, its mouth wide open in a threatening hiss right next to a nest. Audubon was famous for staging these intense, life-or-death moments to show birds in action rather than just sitting still. You can see the scientific names at the bottom—Turdus Polyglottus for the birds and Crotalus Horridus for the snake—reminding us this was as much a scientific record as it was art.
- Technique
- hand-colored engraving
- Material
- paper
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