Yellow Warbler
Historical Context
Kidd's Yellow Warbler after Audubon completes the surviving series of oil translations from The Birds of America. The Yellow Warbler, one of North America's most common and colorful songbirds, was depicted by Audubon with his characteristic combination of scientific accuracy and artistic vitality. Kidd's oil versions, though less dynamic than Audubon's original watercolors, provide an interesting record of the artistic economy surrounding natural history publishing.
Technical Analysis
Kidd's pencil and oil on millboard technique captures the warbler's bright yellow plumage with careful attention to Audubon's original composition. The intimate format suits the small bird, while the simplified background maintains focus on the ornithological subject.
Provenance
Painted for John James Audubon [1785-1851]; by descent in the Audubon family to his great-grandson, Leonard Benjamin Audubon [1888-1951], Sydney, Australia;[1] sold 1950 to E.J.L. Hallstrom [1886-1970], Sydney, Australia; gift 1951 to NGA. [1] John James Audubon had four children, one of whom was John Woodhouse Audubon [1812-1862]. The younger Audubon married twice; he had two children with his first wife, Maria Bachman [1816-1840], and seven with his second wife, Caroline Hall [1811-1899]. Of the seven, five lived to adulthood, and one of them, William Bakewell Audubon [1847-1885], left the United States for Australia in either 1880 or 1882. He began a new life raising sheep near Yass, a small town about 250 miles west of Sydney. He married Lucy Ann Grovenor in 1885, and they had two children, Leonard Benjamin and Ella Caroline. According to a letter of 9 July 1952 from Ella Caroline Audubon to John Walker (in NGA curatorial files), Audubon paintings were sent to Australia in 1899 or 1900, which would correspond with the death of Caroline Hall Audubon on 1 February 1899. Miss Audubon's letter states that her father arrived in Australia 8 April 1880. However, Walter Audubon gives 21 January 1882 as the date that William Bakewell Audubon sailed for Australia, and he writes also that it was William who "brought with him many paintings by his grandfather, John James Audubon" (see Walter Audubon, _Last of the Audubon Line: The Descendants of John Woodhouse Audubon_, Franklin, North Carolina, 2002: 72-79).
.jpg&width=600)