The Gold-Winged Woodpecker

This plate, identified as Plate 37 of The Birds of America, was engraved by Robert Havell Jr. and published in London between 1827 and 1838 as part of Audubon's monumental double-elephant folio. Audubon had observed and sketched the Northern Flicker extensively during his years in the American interior, and the species appears here with a thoroughness that reflects both his respect for it and his broader ambition: to document every bird species of North America at life size. The scientific illustration tradition he inherited from European naturalists such as Mark Catesby and Alexander Wilson was transformed under his hand into something far more theatrical; Audubon posed his subjects using wire armatures on fresh specimens, generating the dynamic, living attitudes that distinguished his work from the flat profile views standard to the field. The Gold-Winged Woodpecker plate was received as one of the most accomplished in the folio, praised by contemporary subscribers for the accuracy of its plumage detail and the ingenuity of its multi-figure arrangement. Original double-elephant folios now reside in institutions including the New-York Historical Society and the Smithsonian, with individual prints commanding prices at auction that reflect both their rarity and their status as founding documents of American natural history art.

Our archival giclee reproduction on museum-grade cotton canvas preserves the nuanced tonal transitions that are most at risk in lesser reproductions: the gradation from deep umber in the shadowed bark crevices to the pale silver of exposed heartwood, and the delicate gradation within each golden tail feather from deep amber at the rachis to near-transparent yellow at the vane tips. The fine stippling Havell's engravers used to render breast spotting and the crosshatched texture of the bark are resolved at full fidelity rather than softened into undifferentiated tone. Our source material has been digitally restored from high-resolution museum scans, correcting the yellowing and color shift common in aged paper reproductions and recovering the original separation between the warm bird tones and the cooler, grayer decomposing wood. The ornate composite frame, finished in antique gold leaf, echoes the warm ochre and honey tones of the flickers' plumage while providing the formal presentation befitting a plate that has always belonged in the company of serious collections.