2 January - 31 December 2009
See Also: Birds of the Smokies Brochure
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park
is a premier place for birds. The crest of the
Smokies towers nearly a mile above the
foothills, creating a range in elevations and a variety
of topographies that provide for a diversity of habitats
and microclimates for birds. From the high, exposed
peaks to the warmer, sheltered lowlands, some 240
species of birds have been found in the park. Sixty
species are year-round residents; and nearly 120
species breed in the park, including 52 species from
the neo-tropics (a biogeographic region that includes
South America, the West Indies, and tropical North
America). Many other species use the park as an
important stopover and foraging area during their
semiannual migration. (http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/birds.htm)
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the McClung Museum has chosen from its collections a selection of hand-colored copper plate engravings and lithographs by Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, and John James Audubon. These three early naturalists and artists traveled widely in the southeastern United States, collecting, naming, and illustrating plants and animals they encountered. In this exhibit of their artwork, many of the bird species that can be found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are presented.
Mark Catesby
1682–1749
Mark Catesby exhibited a keen interest in natural
history growing up in Suffolk, England. An
opportunity to visit his sister in Virginia in 1712
brought the young man into contact with the rich
flora and fauna of the New World. Returning to
England in 1719, Catesby acquired patronage and
support, and was persuaded to take on a natural
history of America that had been started by John
Lawson before his death in 1711. Catesby returned
to South Carolina in 1722 and, for the next three
years, made notes and drawings and assembled an
enormous collection of plants and animals from
the Southeast.
Returning to England in 1726, Catesby set about assembling and publishing the results of his travels, the first volume being published in 1731. When finished, Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands included 220 hand-colored engravings, illustrating 109 birds, 33 amphibians and reptiles, 46 fishes, 31 insects, nine quadrupeds, and 171 plants.
Catesby’s Natural History is a pioneering
work in scientific illustration and, until the
time of Audubon a hundred years later,
the best illustrative treatment of the flora
and fauna of North America. Although
his achievements have to a degree
been obscured by Audubon and other
illustrators of the 19th century, Catesby
rightly has been recognized as the
founder of American ornithology
and appropriately designated the “Colonial Audubon.”
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Alexander Wilson
1766–1813
Alexander Wilson
is considered
by many to be
the “Father
of American
Ornithology.”
A close friend
and student of
William Bartram,
he produced
from 1808 to
1814 the nine-volume American Ornithology,
with 320 hand-colored engravings representing
262 species (the last part of Volume 8 and all
of Volume 9 were produced after his death by
George Ord). Wilson met John James Audubon
in 1810, and it was Wilson, already the leading
authority on birds of North America, who probably
inspired young Audubon to embark on his own
monumental publication. Unfortunately, Wilson’s
untimely death at 47 and his close juxtaposition in
point of time to Audubon made him less known.
Although Audubon’s
paintings surpass
Wilson’s, Wilson’s text
is regarded as far more
valuable.
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Wilson picture courtesy of the American Philosophical Society. Portrait by Rembrandt Peale.
John James
Audubon
1785–1851
The name “Audubon” has become synonymous with birds and their protection. No bird painter before or since has singlehandedly achieved so much, overcoming the challenges of the wilderness and the difficulties of meeting the expenses to fulfill his dream. John James Audubon set standards of artistry against which later painters are inevitably measured, irrespective of differences in media or goal.
From 1820 to 1838, Audubon explored North America
from Labrador to the Florida Keys and west to Texas
and the northern Great Plains. Frustrated that he
was never able to reach the Rockies or the Pacific, he
nevertheless painted nearly 500 of the approximately
650 bird species regularly found in North America.
Audubon sought to know the birds in their natural
habitats; his drawings usually were based on long
hours of observation, as well as specimens in the
hand—often innovatively mounted on wires and
traced on graph paper so he could depict birds in
more lifelike positions.
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The Birds of America (1827–38) ultimately consisted
of 435 plates engraved in aquatint and hand-colored
by Robert Havell; these contain 1,065 life-sized figures
of 489 supposedly distinct species. Between 1840 and
1844, The Birds of America was published in a smaller
size (royal octavo) that was lithographed and
hand-colored by J. T. Bowen of Philadelphia; prints in
this exhibition come from the royal octavo edition.
The edition differed from the previous double
elephant folio size in grouping the birds by species
and devoting a separate plate to each species.
Autubon picture courtesy of the White House Historical Association (White House Collection).
Portrait by John Syme.
Recommended Reference Books
- Alsop, Fred J., III. 1991. Birds of the Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Gatlinburg.
- Cantwell, Robert. 1961. Alexander Wilson: Naturalist and Pioneer, a Biography. Lippincott, Philadelphia.
- Feduccia, Alan (Editor). 1985. Catesby’s Birds of Colonial America. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.
- Ferrand, John and John L. Bull. 1977. The Audubon Society Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region. National Audubon Society.
- National Geographic Society. Field Guide to Birds of North America, 5th Edition.
- Peterson, Roger Tory and Virginia Marie Peterson. 2002. A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company.
- Souder, William. 2004. Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of “The Birds of America.” North Point Press, New York.
- Tyler, Ron. 1993. Audubon’s Great National Work: The Royal Octavo Edition of “The Birds of America.” University of Texas Press, Austin.