Carolina Parrot

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Artist: Robert Havell (American, 1793–1878)
Medium: hand-colored engraving and aquatint on Whatman wove paper
Size: plate: 84.3 x 60.2 cm (33 3/16 x 23 11/16 in.); sheet: 99.7 x 66.7 cm (39 1/4 x 26 1/4 in.)
Museum: National Gallery of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Seven brilliantly colored parrots cluster closely in the rust-brown branches of a slender tree limb in this vertical color engraving. Each bird is in a different pose and shown from a different angle, and together they fill the composition. Their bodies and wings are a riot of emerald, lime, and moss green. One bird, near the bottom center, also has a green head. The rest have bright gold-yellow heads with flame red over the short, curved beaks and around the eyes. Light glints off the bead-like black and brown eyes.

The bird at the very bottom of the composition looks at us with an open beak, seeming to smile with one wing outstretched. The twigs are interspersed with spiky-edged oval, tan pods and gray dried leaves. The print is inscribed in three places near the bottom. In the center it reads, “Carolina Parrots. Males 1. F. 2. Young 3. PSITACUS CAROLINENSIS, Plant Vulgo. Cuckle Burr.” On the left, engraved text reads, “Drawn from Nature & Published by John. J. Audubon. F.R.S.E. M.W.S.” On the right, it reads, “Engraved, Printed & Coloured by R. Havell & Son, London.”