American Flamingo, plate 431, Princeton Fine Art Edition

Princeton Audubon Fine Art Edition, plate 431, archival pigment print measuring 26 x 39 inches. Limited to 500 prints worldwide. Exceptional detail. The color is absolutely accurate. This is produced from our original Audubon Havell original. We suggest archival framing. An accent lamp would enhance your presentation.

“Of all the full-size facsimiles of Audubon's prints, those from Princeton Audubon Ltd. come the closest in appearance and quality to the originals. Combining this with their very reasonable cost makes Princeton Audubon facsimiles winners for those looking to acquire some of the most dramatic American natural history images ever produced." - Chris Lane, Philadelphia Print Shop West, appraiser on Antiques Roadshow.

Audubon saw several flocks of American flamingos in the Florida Keys in 1832, and while anxious to obtain a specimen from which to make a painting, he was never able to shoot one. During a stay in London, he wrote repeatedly to his friend John Bachman in Charleston, South Carolina, asking for a specimen. In a letter dated October 31, 1837, he said: “As to flamingos their Eggs &c I fear this is up for me; and this proves to me now that I was a great fool not to have gone to Cuba, or sent a person there expressly….”

Fortunately, it wasn’t “up” for him after all. He finally obtained specimens from Cuba and made the drawing for this Havell plate in London in 1838.

The flamingo’s highly specialized manner of feeding is as noteworthy as its dramatic coloring. The bird plunges its head underwater upside down, then with the upper bill of its sickle-shaped beak serving as a dredge and the tongue as a sieve, it scoops small shellfish from the bottom of shallow lagoons.