Description
Plate: 62 Passenger Pigeon
Originally painted by John James Audubon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1824. This bird species, now extinct, was so plentiful in Audubon's day that he wrote in an often quoted passage of his experience in Kentucky in 1813 and it bears repeating: "The air was literally filled with pigeons, the light of noon-day was obscured as if by an eclipse".
26 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches
The Oppenheimer-New York Historical Society Edition recreates the preparatory watercolor models John James Audubon (1785-1851) made prior to the publication of the double elephant folio edition of The Birds of America (1827-38) engraved by Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878).
The New-York Historical Society and Oppenheimer Editions have an exclusive agreement to publish numbered actual-size facsimiles of all 474 of John James Audubon’s avian watercolors in the museum’s collection. The edition is limited to 200 prints of each image. With watercolor inks on watercolor paper, these prints directly capture the artist's hand and fundamental vision, unlike any publication before.
Item Number:
5312
