FISH HAWK, MALE. FALCO HALLÆTUS. VULGO WEAK FISH [caption title].
[London]: Engraved, Printed, & Coloured by R. Havell, Jr., 1830.

Slightly trimmed, with approximately 1½ inches of loss to margins, not affecting image or text. Light toning.
Occasional fox marks. Color overall bright and clean. Very good. Mounted on cardboard, backed with early 20th century newsprint.

Plate 81 of the double-elephant folio edition of John James Audubon’s celebrated Birds of America. Offered here
is the first variant, marked as “Plate 81” in the upper right corner and labeled the “Fish Hawk.” The latter second variant marks the plate number in Roman numerals (“Plate LXXXI”) and is labeled, “Fish Hawk, or Osprey.” Osprey, known under the Linnaean classification system as Pandion haliaetus, is the current and correct name of the bird.

A dramatic image of an American raptor in mid-flight, with its most recent prey, a weakfish, clutched between its talons. According to the Audubon scholar, Susanne M. Low, Audubon likely painted this image in New Jersey in the summer of 1829. The original painting lacked a background; the pale blue sea and white cliffs were added in the workshop of the engraver and eminent colorist, Robert Havell, Jr.

Audubon felt a deep affection for the “Fish Hawk,” as demonstrated in his Ornithological Biography, the accompanying text to Birds of America. He writes: “The motions of the Fish Hawk in the air are graceful, and as majestic as those of the Eagle. It rises with ease to a great height by extensive circlings, performed apparently by mere inclinations of the wings and tail. It dives at times to some distance with the wings partially closed, and resumes its sailing, as if these plunges were made for amusement only…No sooner does it spy a fish suited to its taste, than it checks its course with a sudden shake of its wings and tail, which gives it the appearance of being poised in the air for a moment, after which it plunges headlong with great rapidity into the water, to secure its prey, or continue its flight, if disappointed by having observed the fish sink deeper.” Regarding the scene depicted in the plate, Audubon adds that the weakfish was the largest prey he had seen the fish hawk attack. He describes how the bird struggled under the weight of the fish and, ultimately, how it dropped its catch upon “hearing the report of a shot fired at it.” Audubon likely fired the shot himself.

The image itself is balanced and representative of Audubon’s artistic genius. The osprey and the weakfish share
similar expressions; the hunter and hunted are united in a moment of natural violence. Only the slightly lolling eye of the weakfish suggests its inevitable death. Of course, the irony of the image – confirmed in the selection of Audubon’s text quoted above – is that the osprey is also under attack. Audubon employs visual harmony to illustrate natural law.

Interest in Audubon’s Birds of America continues unabated. At the landmark 2004 Christie’s New York sale of the Sachsen-Meiningen collection, the Fish Hawk achieved a price of $141,900, plus the buyer’s premium. In contrast, the minor condition compromises described above render the present copy more accessible.

“It is a matter of wonderment that this plate, one of this author’s favorites, has never achieved the popularity of prints such as the Flamingo or the Great Blue Heron. Surely, with the powerful, dramatically painted wings, it ranks as one of the most stunning of Audubon’s prints” – Low.

A compelling image of an iconic bird of the American coastline.



Provenance: From a private Massachusetts collection to the gallery.

Bibliography:

John James Audubon, Ornithological Biography (http://www.audubon.org/bird/Boa/F2_G5a.html).

Susanne M. Low, A Guide to Audubon’s Birds of America (New Haven and New York: William Reese Company & Donald A. Heald, 2002), p.75-76.