Traill's Flycatcher. Muscicapa trailii [current name: Willow Flycatcher. Empidonax traillii], from "The Birds of America," plate 45 [later XLV]
This print from Audubon's The Birds of America represents one adult bird facing left in profile with its beak open in song. The body feathers are brown, the breast cream and the wings black and tan. The bird perches on a Sweet Gum tree from which patches of bark peel. There is an etched, uncolored detail of its bill at lower left. This is a first variant before the plate number changed from 45 to XLV. Audubon's related painting also includes the detail of the bill and is inscribed "Fort of Arkansas, April 17th, 1822." Audubon discovered this bird and named it after his friend Dr. Thomas Stewart Traill, an English professor who wrote for the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Audubon placed the birds in his prints amongst plants native to their habitats, a significant departure from traditional natural history drawing practice. Also innovative was to often show birds in movement and, when more than one appear, from different points of view to display more of their plumage. Engraved text below gives English vernacular names for the birds followed by Latin, with plants identified in the same way. Full sets of The Birds of America contain 435 life-sized depictions. Over thirteen years, subscribers periodically received sets of five prints (each set containing images of two small, one medium sized and one large bird species). Engraved numbers at upper left and right identify the set number and individual plate number. Double elephant-folio sized sheets of paper were used, no matter the size of the printing plate, to allow the sets to be bound together once complete. Fewer than two hundred full sets were produced. When later divided, previous owners of individual prints often trimmed the margins. This work retains its original margins.
Audubon placed the birds in his prints amongst plants native to their habitats, a significant departure from traditional natural history drawing practice. Also innovative was to often show birds in movement and, when more than one appear, from different points of view to display more of their plumage. Engraved text below gives English vernacular names for the birds followed by Latin, with plants identified in the same way. Full sets of The Birds of America contain 435 life-sized depictions. Over thirteen years, subscribers periodically received sets of five prints (each set containing images of two small, one medium sized and one large bird species). Engraved numbers at upper left and right identify the set number and individual plate number. Double elephant-folio sized sheets of paper were used, no matter the size of the printing plate, to allow the sets to be bound together once complete. Fewer than two hundred full sets were produced. When later divided, previous owners of individual prints often trimmed the margins. This work retains its original margins.
Artwork Details
- Title: Traill's Flycatcher. Muscicapa trailii [current name: Willow Flycatcher. Empidonax traillii], from "The Birds of America," plate 45 [later XLV]
- Artist: After John James Audubon (American (born Haiti), Les Cayes (Saint-Domingue) 1785–1851 New York)
- Etcher: Etched and aquatinted by Robert Havell Jr. (American (born England), Reading 1793–1878 Tarrytown, New York)
- Printer: Robert Havell, Sr. (British, Reading 1769–1832)
- Publisher: John James Audubon (American (born Haiti), Les Cayes (Saint-Domingue) 1785–1851 New York)
- Date: 1828
- Medium: Hand-colored etching, aquatint and engraving
- Dimensions: Plate: 19 1/2 × 12 5/16 in. (49.5 × 31.3 cm)
Sheet: 38 11/16 × 25 1/2 in. (98.3 × 64.8 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Michael and Elyn Stubblefield, 2024
- Object Number: 2024.587.7
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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