Audubon Aquatint, Broad-winged Hawk
AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Broad-winged Hawk, Plate 91.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
38 1/4 x 25 sheet.
Comparable: Guernsey's, 2014 - $16,250; Arader Galleries, 2020 - $13,200.
The best open wing ever drawn. A favorite for Audubon society members for over 100 years.
"I put the bird on a stick made fast to my table. It merely moved its feet to grasp the stick, and stood erect, but raised its feathers, and drew in its neck on its shoulders. I passed my hand over it, to smooth the feathers by gentle pressure. It moved not. The plumage remained as I wished it. Its eye, directed towards mine, appeared truly sorrowful, with a degree of pensiveness, which rendered me at that moment quite uneasy. I measured the length of its bill with the compass, began my outlines, continued measuring part after part as I went on, and finished the drawing, without the bird ever moving once. My wife sat at my side, reading to me at intervals, but our conversation had frequent reference to the singularity of the incident. The drawing being finished, I raised the window, laid hold of the poor bird, and launched it into the air, where it sailed off until out of my sight, without uttering a single cry, or deviating from its course." - Audubon's Ornithological Biography.
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AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Broad-winged Hawk, Plate 91.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
38 1/4 x 25 sheet.
Comparable: Guernsey's, 2014 - $16,250; Arader Galleries, 2020 - $13,200.
The best open wing ever drawn. A favorite for Audubon society members for over 100 years.
"I put the bird on a stick made fast to my table. It merely moved its feet to grasp the stick, and stood erect, but raised its feathers, and drew in its neck on its shoulders. I passed my hand over it, to smooth the feathers by gentle pressure. It moved not. The plumage remained as I wished it. Its eye, directed towards mine, appeared truly sorrowful, with a degree of pensiveness, which rendered me at that moment quite uneasy. I measured the length of its bill with the compass, began my outlines, continued measuring part after part as I went on, and finished the drawing, without the bird ever moving once. My wife sat at my side, reading to me at intervals, but our conversation had frequent reference to the singularity of the incident. The drawing being finished, I raised the window, laid hold of the poor bird, and launched it into the air, where it sailed off until out of my sight, without uttering a single cry, or deviating from its course." - Audubon's Ornithological Biography.
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Time, Location
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