Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

Art Historical Context

Behold the majestic *Ivory-billed Wooders*, a stunning oil on canvas painted around 1830–31 by Scottish artist Joseph Bartholomew Kidd under the direction of John James Audubon Measuring nearly 40 by 26 inches, this work captures a pair of these striking birds—a male with his vivid scarlet crest and a female—in a dynamic, life-like tableau amid their Louisiana swamp habitat. Housed in The Met's American Wing, it exemplifies early 19th-century American natural history art. Audubon, the pioneering ornithologist and artist behind the monumental *The Birds of America* (1827–38), commissioned Kidd to create these large-scale oils from his watercolor originals. Intended as subscriber enticements for the folio edition, they showcase Audubon's revolutionary approach: life-size scale, dramatic poses, and meticulous anatomical accuracy derived from his fieldwork. Kidd's masterful brushwork translates this into rich oils, blending scientific precision with artistic drama. Today, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker—once common in southern U.S. forests—is feared extinct, lending this painting poignant urgency. It highlights America's vanishing wilderness and Audubon's enduring legacy in conservation art, bridging Romanticism and empirical science for a new era of environmental awareness.

About the Artist

Joseph Bartholomew Kidd|John James Audubon (American|American, born Haiti) · 1808 |1785 –1889 |1851

1808–1889|American (born Haiti), Les Cayes (Saint-Domingue) 1785–1851 New York