[00:00.00]NARRATOR: Listen to part of a lecture in an art history class. [00:03.17] The professor has been discussing illustrated books.[00:07.00]MALE PROFESSOR: I want to take a look at one particular book to give you an idea about what was involved in publishing illustrated books in the 1800s. [00:15.00] The book's called The Birds of America, and the illustrator was John James Audubon.[00:21.00]So … The Birds of America … four volumes which contained illustrations of nearly every bird in the United States: over 400 birds, all hand-colored, all painted life-sized, the larger birds printed on the largest printing paper available at that time …. [00:40.00]This required a lot of dedication, [00:42.77]and Audubon is best remembered as an incredibly meticulous, accurate artist … a very accomplished illustrator of the natural world.
[00:51.00]And while there were other artists working on similar projects at the same time, Audubon's book remains the most well-known and successful of its kind.[01:00.90]But, uh, let's talk a bit about Audubon himself first.[01:05.00]First of all, Audubon was not a traditional painter …[01:10.00]and by this, I mean that he didn't work in oils. [01:12.90] He preferred to use watercolor and pastel crayons, [01:16.13]and he worked on paper instead of on canvas.[01:19.66]The thing is, Audubon considered the illustrations in his book, not the original watercolors, to be the finished product. [01:28.30]His watercolors were merely preparatory studies, most of which were painted while he was observing birds in the wild. [01:35.00] These watercolors were then sent to his printer, who created the final prints for the book. [01:40.30] And Audubon was so concerned with accuracy that he often scribbled notes to the printer around the edges of these original watercolors.[01:48.80]In fact, you might question whether producing a work of art was even Audubon's goal. [01:54.00]Now, when I look at an Audubon illustration, I see a work of art. [01:59.00] But it may make more sense to consider Audubon first and foremost as a naturalist … as a scientist. [02:06.50]See, the early nineteenth century when Audubon was painting was a time of major scientific inquiry. [02:12.86]And an essential way of spreading scientific knowledge was through illustrated books.
[02:19.00]FEMALE STUDENT: So what did Audubon consider himself? An artist or a scientist?[02:24.72]MALE PROFESSOR: I'm not sure the distinction between the two was all that clear in the 1800s. [02:29.60] I think we can accurately state that … that the driving force in his art was getting the science right. [02:36.55]And this was perhaps a point that critics of his artwork at the time just didn't appreciate.[02:41.80]Audubon also studied birds in ways that didn't directly inform his art. [02:47.30]Uh, you know what bird banding is, right? [02:50.00]A bird has a band attached to its foot so we can learn about things like migration patterns. [02:55.30]Well, the first recorded instance of anyone doing that—it was Audubon. [03:00.30]Another example … a common belief at the time was that vultures use their sense of smell to find food. [03:07.00] Audubon didn't believe that, [03:08.71] so he tested it. [03:10.06] He put a large painting of a dead sheep in a field, and sure enough: vultures found it and started pecking at it.
[03:18.00]Now, Audubon's work was very accurate, and we know this because we can compare his illustrations to the birds around us. [03:26.30]But sometimes it's not possible to check. [03:26.30]There’re actually several birds in his book that no one's ever seen. [03:33.30]These are sometimes called Audubon's “mystery birds,” because even though he drew them, there's no evidence that they exist in the wild.
[03:42.00]For someone who's respected as a naturalist, isn't it strange to think that he drew some birds that don't appear to be real?[03:50.30]For example, there’s an illustration that appears to be a type of warbler—a small bird. [03:56.00]It has a white ring around its eyes and white bars on its wings. [03:59.90]No one’s ever seen a warbler like this, so some people wonder if Audubon maybe forgot certain details about this bird when he painted it—or that he copied another artist's work. [04:10.90]But considering that Audubon was such a meticulous artist … well, there might be a better answer.
[04:18.10] Hybridization is something that's well known in birds. [04:22.20]And it definitely explains a rather unique-looking duck Audubon painted. [04:27.00]He himself suggested that maybe it wasn't an unknown species, but a hybrid, born from two different species. [04:34.00]Since then, this particular crossing of species has actually been recorded, both in the wild and in captivity, [04:41.10]so it turns out that Audubon was right, [04:43.39] and this duck actually was a hybrid.
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