John James Audubon
This image of John James Audubon is from a portrait that appeared in the October 1880 issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine. That image reproduced a print by C. Turner of a miniature painted by Frederick Cruickshank around 1831. The print was originally published by Robert Havell (Audubon's printer) in 1835 to help promote sales of Audubon's work, The Birds of America. At the time of the Cruickshank portrait, Audubon was in his mid-forties and in the midst of realizing his great dream -- publication of his work, The Birds of America. This huge work is usually referred to as the Havell Edition or as Double Elephant Folio (after the large size of the paper -- about 39 inches by 26 inches). All birds in the Double Elephant Folio are portrayed "the size of life," with the large water birds and hawks all appearing on the same size sheets as the smallest of the songbirds. As a result, some plates of the Double Elephant Folio are made up of small images surrounded by very large margins, while others plates have large images that fill up an entire sheet of paper.
Last updated 09.05.05 |
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