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This is a painting of a blue bird perched on a flowering branch. The bird has a blue head, tail, and wings, with a white throat and body, both tinged with pink. Its beak is black with a hint of yellow. The bird is facing the right, standing on a branch with green leaves and partially open pink-purple flowers. The background is beige paper, and there are some written lines of text at the bottom of the painting.
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This is a painting of a blue bird perched on a flowering branch. The bird has a blue head, tail, and wings, with a white throat and body, both tinged with pink. Its beak is black with a hint of yellow. The bird is facing the right, standing on a branch with green leaves and partially open pink-purple flowers. The background is beige paper, and there are some written lines of text at the bottom of the painting.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

Blue Yellow Back Warbler

John James Audubon

Date
1812
Medium
watercolor and gouache over graphite
Dimensions
sheet: 36.2 × 27.7 cm (14 1/4 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
1985.64.70
Credit line
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Time span
1801 to 1825
Department
CG-W
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • American
  • bird
  • animal
  • Realist
  • Warbler
Inscription

lower center in pen and brown ink: Blue Yellow Back Warbler A.W. / Sylvia Pusilla / drawn by J.J. Audubon; lower left in pen and brown ink: No. 33; lower left in graphite: May 7th 1812. Pens.a-; other hand, lL //in graphite: Geranium maculatum

Marks

upper left: three letters partly visible

Watermarks

upper left: partial watermark

NGA object ID 66468. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.