Large Old Hand-Colored Print of Northern Cardinals from Northern America, 1869

About this piece

Cardinalis igneus, a pair of red cardinals, an original large folio lithograph with hand coloring from Daniel Giraud Elliot's The New and Heretofore Unfigured Species of the Birds of North America, published in New York for the author between 1866 and 1869. The plate is lettered "Cardinalis igneus" and carries the notes "Drawn from Nature by D.G. Elliot, F.Z.S." and "Bowen & Co. Lith. Phila."

Two crested red birds are shown at life size on a gnarled branch among tall grasses. The male at the top sits upright in profile with its heavy pale bill and black face, and the female, below, is turned to face left with its crest raised. The reds are deep and warm, with browner wings and tails, and a spray of small purple flowers and a green leaf rise beside them from the grass.

Elliot's work set out to figure species of North American birds not shown by Wilson or Audubon, with a special interest in the American West from California to Texas and the Rocky Mountains. The plates were drawn by Elliot and printed by Bowen of Philadelphia, and the coloring was applied by hand.