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.