Raven — Audubon, Birds of America Plate 101

A raven that seems to look straight at you. Perched on a branch of shellbark hickory, a large raven opens its heavy beak, wings half raised, as if it had just noticed you. Its black plumage is not flat at all: Audubon gave it glints of blue and green. Around it, clusters of hickory nuts burst from their husks among leaves already turning yellow.

Audubon painted the bird around 1829, probably in the great pine forest of Pennsylvania, and described it as a very old male. The hickory branch was painted by his assistant George Lehman, who added the leaves and plants to many plates.

Why it works on your wall

• Dark and literary: black, olive and gold, a natural fit for a library, a study or a “dark academia” interior
• A presence in the room: the raven’s direct gaze holds a wall on its own, above a desk, a console or a fireplace
• Framing tip: a black or dark wood frame deepens the plumage; a cream mount suits the old paper tone

The plate

Plate 101 opens the second volume of The Birds of America, issued around 1831, with the caption “Raven, Corvus corax, Male. Thick Shell-bark Hickory, Juglans laciniosa”. The common raven is the largest of all perching birds, the size of a hawk.

• Artist: John James Audubon (1785–1851), hickory by George Lehman, engraved by Robert Havell Jr.
• Work: The Birds of America, plate 101 (CI)
• Date: painted around 1829, engraved around 1831
• Technique: etching and aquatint, coloured by hand
• Bird: common raven, Corvus corax, on shellbark hickory

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 Great Cinereous Owl or the Great Horned Owl, or explore all our John James Audubon prints.