Water Thrush

Artist John James Audubon (American, 1785 - 1851)

Date1806

Mediumchalk and pencil on paper

Dimensions9 3/8 x 11 11/16 inches (23.8 x 29.7 cm)
Frame: 13 3/4 × 19 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches (34.9 × 50.2 × 3.8 cm)

Credit LinePurchase of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, 1981

Object number31.205.1

ClassificationsPaper

Label TextThis drawing shows Audubon’s early efforts to learn to depict birds accurately and in their habitat. An approximate translation of his notes would be “This bird has a very pretty wavering walking or resting. I know only one cry of it which is a little like that of the little Pouillot of France (tuhuit-tuhuit), which lasts as long as its flight. It loves shady and cool places. The brook murmuring it sits itself on trees, it is wild and I only found it after a long time.” The common name today for this bird is the Northern Thrush.

ProvenanceArtist; Edward Harris; Estate of Edward Harris II; John Eliot Thayer, Lancaster, Massachusetts; Mrs. I Tucker Burr, Needham, Massachusetts (daughter of John Eliot Thayer); Gerald P. Peters, Santa Fe, New Mexico; purchased November 17, 1981 by Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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