Kittiwake Gull
Medium
hand-colored engraving and aquatint on Whatman wove paper
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Walter B. James
Accession Number
1945.8.224
Art Historical Context
Behold the elegant *Kittiwake Gull* (1834), a stunning hand-colored engraving and aquint by Robert Havell John James Audubon. This print is a gem from Audubon's monumental *The Birds of America*, one of the most ambitious natural history projects of the 19th century. Published in London between 1827 and 1838, the series featured life-sized depictions of over 400 North American bird species, drawn from Audubon's exhaustive fieldwork. The kittiwake, a Arctic gull, is captured mid-flight against a stormy sea, embodying Audubon's revolutionary approach to blending scientific accuracy with dramatic...
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...