Great White Heron
Medium
hand-colored engraving and aquatint on Whatman wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 65.6 x 97.4 cm (25 13/16 x 38 3/8 in.) sheet: 67.4 x 101 cm (26 9/16 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
1945.8.281
Art Historical Context
Behold the elegant *Great White Heron*, a hand-colored engraving and aquatint by Robert Havell, faithfully reproducing John James Audubon's original watercolor from his monumental *Birds of America series, published between 1827 and 1838. Created in 1835, this double-elephant folio plate captures the heron's poised grace in life size—measuring nearly 26 by 39 inches on the sheet—allowing viewers to appreciate its sweeping wingspan and intricate plumage as if encountering the bird in the wild. Audubon, a pioneering naturalist-artist, posed his subjects dramatically amid natural habitats, blendi...
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...