Black-throated Diver
Medium
hand-colored engraving and aquatint on Whatman wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 65.1 x 98.7 cm (25 5/8 x 38 7/8 in.) sheet: 67.8 x 101 cm (26 11/16 x 39 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Walter B. James
Accession Number
1945.8.346
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the National Gallery of Art, where we encounter the stunning *Black-throated Diver* (1836), a hand-colored engraving and aquatint by Robert Havell after John James Audubon. magnificent print is part of Audubon's groundbreaking *The Birds of America* (1827–1838), a monumental series of 435 life-size bird illustrations that revolutionized natural history art. Audubon, a self-taught artist and ornithologist, drew from live specimens in dynamic, naturalistic poses, capturing the black-throated diver—a sleek North American loon—in mid-dive with remarkable drama and anatomical precision. ...
About the Artist
Robert Havell after John James Audubon
Robert Havell Jr., born on November 25, 1793, in Reading, Berkshire, England, was the son of renowned engraver and publisher Robert Havell Sr. and Lydia Miller Phillips. Growing up in a family of artists that included notable engravers and etchers, he trained under his father, mastering aquatint techniques early on. Though briefly estranged from the family business, Havell reconciled with his fath...