Blackburnian Warbler, plate 135 from "The Birds of America"

ExpandFavoriteView PDF

Images(2)

Artist/Makerafter John James Audubon (American, born Haiti, 1785 - 1851)

Engraver Robert Havell (American, 1793 - 1878)

Printer Robert Havell (American, 1793 - 1878)

Datepublished 1832

MediumEngraving and aquatint with hand-coloring

DimensionsPlate: 19 9/16 × 12 5/16 in. (49.7 × 31.3 cm) Sheet: 31 5/16 × 22 3/16 in. (79.5 × 56.4 cm) Support: 37 1/2 × 25 1/4 in. (95.3 × 64.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of William G. Roehrick, Class of 1934, H1971

Object number1985.20

On view

DescriptionJohn James Audubon was a self-taught artist, ornithologist, and naturalist whose best-known work is his four-volume publication The Birds of America (1827–1839). At the age of thirty-five, Audubon set out to paint every bird in North America and then worked to have his images reproduced as life-size prints. Prior to the invention of photography, this was the most efficient and accurate way to depict wildlife. The Blackburnian Warbler is the 135th bird that was made as part of Audubon’s series of 435 prints. In an accompanying text, Audubon describes the Blackburnian Warbler as a “charming and delicate” bird, and notes that he saw the creature “in all the brilliancy of its spring plumage, and had the pleasure of hearing its sweet song” while on a trip to the Magdalen Islands in June of 1833. He also notes that the specimen used as a model for his painting was found near Reading, Pennsylvania, along the Schuylkill River. While Audubon is renowned for his work as an ornithologist and his name has become synonymous with American birding, it is vital to acknowledge that he owned enslaved people and was an outspoken anti-abolitionist. Furthermore, like many fellow naturalists of the time, Audubon would sometimes raid Indigenous gravesites for skulls and other “anthropological materials.” This complex and dishonorable past is unequivocally part of Audubon’s legacy and his work as an ornithologist, underlined by the fact that he often utilized the help of uncredited Black and Indigenous people on his research ventures.

Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).

1986
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). Summer 1986.

1985
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). Summer 1985.

Provenance 1985: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of William G. Roehrick.

Inscribed "PLATE CXXXV" at upper right in typeset; "No. 27." at upper left in typeset; "Blackburnian Warbler, / SYLVIA BLACKBURNIAE. Lath. / Male. / Phlox maculata." at lower center in typeset; "Drawn from nature by J.J. Audubon E,R,S. F,L,S." at lower left in typeset; "Engraved, Printed & Coloured by R. Havell, London, 1832." at lower right in typeset.