The Wild Turkey
Plate One of The Birds of America — the bird Audubon chose to open the whole work.
- Work
- Wild Turkey, Plate I, from The Birds of America
- Artist / naturalist
- John James Audubon (engraved by Robert Havell Jr.)
- Origin & date
- London, 1827
- Held by
- Wikimedia Commons
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and keep.
Size
$19.00
The story
John James Audubon opened The Birds of America (1827–1838) with the wild turkey, America's largest native game bird and, not coincidentally, the species Benjamin Franklin had once half-seriously proposed as a national symbol. Audubon painted from birds he shot and wired into lifelike poses — a technique he pioneered specifically to capture the animated postures earlier ornithological illustration lacked — and engraver Robert Havell Jr. translated the watercolor into an aquatint plate on paper large enough to show every bird at true life size, the signature ambition of Audubon's double-elephant folio. What to notice: the turkey is caught mid-stride through cane and bamboo, neck stretched forward, weight still on its trailing foot — a pose no static specimen mount could have supplied, and the exact quality that made Audubon's book an international sensation on its release.
About this reproduction
- Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wikimedia Commons’s open-access release.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper: smooth, no glare.
- Color-managed to the source scan.
- Ships in 5–8 business days; satisfaction guarantee.
From the same naturalist
