Clapper Rail or Salt-water Marsh hen
Artist
John James Audubon
(American, 1785 - 1851)
Engraver
Robert Havell Jr.
(American, 1793 - 1878)
Date1834
Mediumetching and aquatint on paper, hand-colored
DimensionsDouble elephant: 38 1/4 x 25 1/2 inches (97.2 x 64.8 cm)
Credit LinePartial Bequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965 and Partial Gift of Nelda C. Stark, 1973
Object number11.1.2.D.09_Clapper Rail or Salt-water Marsh hen
ClassificationsPages
DescriptionThis page is bound in Volume IV (11.1.2.D). Two brown birds with long bills and striped, feathered dark underbellies in front of high green grass.Label TextThe marsh hen is known today as the clapper rail. In 1832 Childs and Inman, a recently established American printmaking firm, produced this image using the relatively new medium of lithography. Scholars think that Audubon had this print made as an experiment. Perhaps he wanted to see if the lithographic process would be suitable for his next publication.
ProvenanceArtist; by inheritance to his son John Woodhouse Audubon [1812-1862]; purchased December 7, 1861 by John Taylor Johnston [1]; by inheritance to his son John Herbert Johnston as of 1893; by inheritance to his grandson William W. Appleton [1915-2014]; as of November 26, 1939 (Harry A. Levinson, The Chaucer Head Book Shop, New York) [2]; purchased 1939 by Cornelius D. Ehret, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; purchased April 29, 1954 through (Nada Kramar, Washington, D.C.) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; ½ interest bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation [3]; remaining ½ interest gifted February 1, 1973 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation by Nelda C. Stark [1909-1999]; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
| 1. See letter and bill of sale from John Woodhouse Audubon to John Taylor Johnston (object number 11.2.105.A-C)
| 2. The New York Times Book Review, "Notes on Rare Books," November 26, 1939. | 3. Owned jointly by H.J. Lutcher Stark and Nelda C. Stark until his death at which point his ½ interest was bequeathed to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation.
On View
On viewc.1850
Joseph Henry Sharp
Royal Worcester Porcelain Company
Staffordshire