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Belted Kingfisher
Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851)
Date: 1830
Dimensions:
Plate: H. 25 7/8 in. (65.7 cm): W. 20 5/8 in. (52.4 cm)
Medium: Etching and aquatint
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of an anonymous donor
Object number: 1958.1
Label Text:
Common near bodies of water across the United States, the Belted Kingfisher is unusual in that the female of the species is more colorful than the male—it is the female’s markings that give the “belted” to the species’ common name. The kingfisher was the first bird with which Audubon used his innovative method of inserting a wire armature into the specimen in order to pose it in a more lifelike way than had been previously common for bird illustrators (Audubon and his peers did not have access to high-powered lenses and cameras with which to study birds and had to procure dead specimens in order to examine them in detail). He created a composition with three kingfishers—two male and one female—all in different active poses against a detailed landscape.
Common near bodies of water across the United States, the Belted Kingfisher is unusual in that the female of the species is more colorful than the male—it is the female’s markings that give the “belted” to the species’ common name. The kingfisher was the first bird with which Audubon used his innovative method of inserting a wire armature into the specimen in order to pose it in a more lifelike way than had been previously common for bird illustrators (Audubon and his peers did not have access to high-powered lenses and cameras with which to study birds and had to procure dead specimens in order to examine them in detail). He created a composition with three kingfishers—two male and one female—all in different active poses against a detailed landscape.
Not on view
In Collection(s)