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The making of Audubon's The Birds of America

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2002 by Joseph Goddu

John James Audubon's four-volume The Birds of America, the grandest and most sumptuous colorplate folio ever produced, was a massive and unprecedented undertaking. Arguably the most important natural history publication of all time, the watercolors and prints for The Birds of America also stand as one of the finest achievements in American art.

Audubon's accomplishment--a story of triumph over innumerable obstacles--has made him one of America's most written-about artists. At least twenty-three biographies of the woodsman-cum-naturalist have been published to date, and even an opera has been devoted to the subject. (1) However, little has been written about how the prints were made, or about the nature of the working relationship between the artist and his partners in the project, the eminent Havell family of painters and engravers.

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The discovery a few years ago of a group of sixty prints approved by Audubon for use as color guides by his printer has provided answers to questions that have lingered about the step-by-step process by which Audubon's watercolor paintings were translated into print. Research has also brought to light the important role played by Henry Augustus Havell (b. 1803); in previous accounts of the production of The Birds of America he has gone virtually unmentioned.

When John James Audubon stepped off the ship Delos in the autumn of 1826 onto the crowded Liverpool docks, he was already forty-one years old but virtually unknown to the scientific and artistic community in Great Britain. And although he carried with him a portfolio of 240 drawings which, by themselves, represented an extraordinary achievement, he knew these comprised only roughly half the subjects he would need to fulfill his dream of publishing the definitive study of the birds of North America. With a fortuitous chain of introductions to guide him, the artist made his way to Edinburgh, where by December 1826 he had engaged the printing firm of William Home Lizars (1788-1859), and his father Daniel (d. 1812). Work proceeded quickly on the first ten prints, but before they could be completed and forwarded to the subscribers, the colorists employed by Lizars went on strike. After the printer's unsuccessful attempts to negotiate their return, he was forced to advise Audubon to transfer the store of prints, in various stages of completion, to London, where the artist would once again have to embark on the search for a printer willing to assume the immense task.

Once Audubon arrived in London, his search for an engraver quickly led him to the firm of Robert Havell Sr. (1769-1832). This shop, whose ancillary trade in natural history specimens may have led the artist to believe he had found a kindred spirit, was located in Marylebone, a district of the city teeming with artists' studios and a variety of printing concerns.

By April 1818, it was apparent that Robert Havell Jr. had joined the family business, with the first appearance of a print with the engraver's credit to Robert Havell and Son. By 1822 his younger brother George Havell (1797-1823) was taking on letterpress printing jobs and sharing space in the family premises at 3 Chapel Street. (2)

A third sibling, Henry Augustus Havell, later played a central role in the production of The Birds of America. He would often be called upon to work up the outline etchings, to color the "pattern prints" to be used as guides for the teams of colorists employed in the project, and to oversee their work.

For the next three years the Havell family partnership thrived, producing some of the finest topographical views of the day They moved to more spacious premises at 79 Newman Street as their commercial success increased. According to family lore, however, Robert Havell Sr. quarreled frequently with his eldest son, and by the spring of 1825 Robert Havell Jr. had left London and the family business behind and embarked on an extended sketching tour of Monmouthshire on the Welsh-English border. Against the wishes of his father, he decided to pursue a career as an artist, painting landscapes in the picturesque manner, inspired, perhaps, by the artistic success of his cousin, William Havell (1782-1857). His abilities were quickly recognized, and before long he was taking on a variety of assignments for other large publishing firms.

Havell rued the loss of his son, but never more than the day that Audubon presented his portfolio of drawings for consideration. Now getting on in years, he recognized immediately that without his son Robert he would not be able to take on a project of this magnitude. In an article written in 1916 for the Print-Collector's Quarterly, George Alfred Williams (1875-1932), a Havell descendant, recounted:

Moved by Audubon's evident disappointment, Havell, Senior, suggested that he would by to find an engraver who could work under his supervision, which plan met with Audubon's immediate approval, for he realized the advantage to be gained from the veteran engraver's experience. Accordingly, Havell began at once his search for an engraver of the required ability whose youth could commend him for an undertaking at once so prolonged and important, and he consulted his friend, Mr. Colnaghi of Colnaghi and Company Mr. Colnaghi showed Havell, Senior, an unsigned proof of a landscape plate, as a sample of the work of one of his young engravers. It so greatly pleased the elderly engraver that he commended the work most highly, exclaiming, "That's just the man for me!" To Havell's great surprise Mr. Colnaghi replied, "Then send for your son." (3)

The making of Audubon's The Birds of America

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2002 by Joseph Goddu

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