Audubon and his Predecessors:Catesby and Wilson

“Scala naturae” (Great Chain of Being), Didacus Valdes, Rhetorica Christiana, 1579

Leonardo da Vinci, bird studies, c. 1500

Leonardo da Vinci, designs for flying machines, c. 1500

Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae (Bologna, 1599)

Watercolor for Ulisse Aldrovandi, Ornithologiae (Bologna, 1599)

John White, Head of a Brown Pelican, 1585-93Watercolor over graphite on paper, 18.5 x 22.4 cm., British Museum

John James Audubon, American Flamingo, 18Watercolor, New-York Historical Society

John White, Flamingo, 1585-1593Watercolor over graphite on paper, 29.6 x 19.7 cm., British Museum, London

Robert Havell after Audubon, American Flamingo, 1838Hand-colored engraving, 38 ¼ x 25 ½ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 431

John White, Flamingo, 1585-1593Watercolor on paper, British Museum, London

Robert Havell after Audubon, American Flamingo, 1838Hand-colored engraving, 38 ¼ x 25 ½ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 431

Mark Catesby, Flamingo, 1729-43Hand-colored etching, 13 ¾ x 10 ¼ in., from The Natural History of Carolina,

Florida, and the Bahama Islands, 1731-43, vol. 1, pl. 73

Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), Systema Naturae, 1735

John James Audubon, Fish Hawk or Osprey, 1806Houghton Library, Harvard University

Mark Catesby, Fishing Hawk, from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, 1731-43

Robert Havell after John James Audubon, White Ibis, 1834 Hand-colored engraving, 26 x 20 ¾ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 222

Mark Catesby, White Ibis, from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and

the Bahama Islands, 1731-43

William Bartram, Great Alachua Savana, 1765Ink on paper, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia

Lawson after Alexander Wilson, Carolina Parrot, from American Ornithology, pl. 26

Havell after Audubon, Carolina Parakeet, 1825Hand-colored engraving, 33 ¼ x 23 ½ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 26

John James Audubon, White-headed Eagle, 1828Hand-colored engraving, 37 x 25 ¼ in., from The Birds of America, plate 31

Lawson after Wilson, White-headed Eagle, 1811Hand-colored engraving, 10 x 13 ¼ in.,

from Wilson, American Ornithology, vol. 4, pl. 36

Havell after Audubon, White-headed Eagle, 1828Hand-colored engraving, 37 x 25 ¼ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 31

Lawson after Wilson, White-headed Eagle, 1811Hand-colored engraving, 10 x 13 ¼ in.,

from Wilson, American Ornithology, vol. 4, pl. 36

Havell after Audubon, White-headed Eagle, 1828Hand-colored engraving, 37 x 25 ¼ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 31

American Bald Eagle, prepared by member of the Peale family for Peale Museum, c.1805

Independence National Historical Park Museum, Philadelphia

American Bald Eagle, collected by Alexander Wilson in Egg Harbor, NJ, prepared by Charles Willson

Peale, c.1811Museum of Comparative Zoology,

Harvard University

Charles Willson Peale, The Artist in His Museum, 1822Oil on canvas, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

Audubon, White-headed Eagle, 1828Hand-colored engraving, 37 x 25 ¼ in., from The Birds of America, plate 31

John James Audubon, Wild Turkey, 1825

Watercolor and graphite on paper, 38 ¾ x 26 in., New-York Historical Society

Alexander Wilson and Titian Ramsay Peale, Wild Turkey Male and Female,

from Wilson, American Ornithology

John James Audubon, Wild Turkey, 1825Watercolor and graphite on paper, 38 ¾ x 26 in., New-York Historical Society