Fish Hawk, or Osprey — Audubon, Birds of America Plate 81

Wings raised, talons locked into its catch. Seen in profile, an osprey beats up from the water with a large weakfish gripped in both feet. Its dark brown wings fill the top of the sheet, the white breast and barred tail stand out against the cream paper, and the fish still seems to gleam. Far below runs a thin strip of grey-blue sea, with pale cliffs on the horizon.

Audubon’s painting showed only the bird and its prey; the distant sea and cliffs were added when the plate was engraved, which gives the scene its sense of height. Audubon admired the bird’s flight, which he found as graceful and majestic as an eagle’s.

Why it works on your wall

• A bold vertical composition: the great diagonal of the wings draws the eye upwards, perfect for a hallway, a staircase or a tall wall
• Coastal and timeless: browns, creams and sea blues suit a seaside house, a living room in natural tones or a study
• Framing tip: a thin black or natural oak frame; in A1 or A0 it comes close to the size of the original plate

The plate

Plate 81 appeared in 1830, in the first volume of The Birds of America, with the caption “Fish Hawk, Male. Falco haliaetus. Vulgo Weak Fish”. Today the bird is called the osprey (Pandion haliaetus), a fish-eating raptor found on every continent except Antarctica.

• Artist: John James Audubon (1785–1851), engraved by Robert Havell Jr.
• Work: The Birds of America, plate 81 (LXXXI)
• Date: painted around 1829, engraved in 1830
• Technique: etching and aquatint, coloured by hand
• Bird: osprey, Pandion haliaetus, with a weakfish

John James Audubon (1785–1851) set out to paint every bird of North America at life size. Between 1827 and 1838, his watercolours became the 435 plates of The Birds of America, etched and aquatinted in London, most of them by Robert Havell Jr., printed on “double elephant” sheets of about 100 × 66 cm and coloured by hand, one by one. Read the story of the book.

Your print

• Restored from a high-definition scan of the original hand-coloured plate, keeping the warm tone of the old paper
• Printed in Europe on thick archival matte paper, FSC certified
• From A4 to A0, plus 40×60, 50×70, 60×90 and 70×100 cm and 12×18 to 27×40 inch sizes, all made for standard frames
• Free shipping, no minimum order. Shipped rolled in a sturdy tube

Pair it with the Frigate Pelican or the Black-backed Gull, or explore all our John James Audubon prints.