Gadwall Duck

Artist John James Audubon (American, 1785 - 1851)

Lithographer John T. Bowen (American, 1801 - 1856)

Datec. 1839

Mediumlithograph on white wove paper, hand-colored

DimensionsOctavo: 10 7/8 × 6 7/8 inches (27.6 × 17.5 cm)

Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965

Object number11.1.7.167

ClassificationsPrints

Label TextJohn James Audubon followed a personal passion to study birds. He depicted birds in active poses and in their appropriate habitat. This print is a pattern plate for an edition of his “The Birds of America”. Pattern plates were the guides for the colorists to add colors by hand. An inscription on the reverse indicates the colorist was Amanda Shewell. Audubon wrote about this duck, “The Creoles of Louisiana name it ‘Violon,’ on account of the whistling sound of its wings. . . . While we were in Texas . . . we found the Gadwall quite abundant on all the island ponds and streams.”

ProvenancePurchased September 11, 1957 through (Nada Kramar, Washington, D.C.) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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