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Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
201 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-685-3750
Fax: 410-385-2105
E-mail: library @mdhs.org
Buy the Book
Maryland
History In Prints: 1752-1900
by Laura Rice |
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Canvass Back Duck 1 Male, 2 Female
Drawn by J[ohn] J[ames] Audubon
Printed by J.T.Bowen, Philadelphia
From: Birds of America, vol. 6, opp. p. 299
1843
Lithograph
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Naturalist John James Audubon here depicts three canvasback ducks, a type
of diving duck native to Maryland. The bird to the left, a male,
he drew in Baltimore in 1843; the other two he painted in Louisiana in
1821. The view of Baltimore in the background was drawn by George
Lehman, an artist friend from Pennsylvania. Audubon chose to include
the view in his print, which does not appear in his original painting,
" on account of the hospitality which I have there experienced, and the
generosity of its inhabitants, who, on the occasion of my plates having
been destroyed by the mob during an outburst of political feeling, indemnified
me for the loss."
In 1834, Audubon was in Baltimore, soliciting subscriptions for his
multi-volume Birds of America. Robert Gilmor purchased a subscription
on behalf of the Library Company of Baltimore. The Library's secretary
recorded in minutes of February 3, 1836 that the installment of plates
from the series was just then delivered, as the plates originally shipped
"being just rec'd previous to the Balt. riots in August last by John B.
Morris Esq. & not delivered by him to the Library were burned or stolen
by the Mobbites." Morris, a Library Company director, also had been
a trustee of the failed Bank of Maryland. He had received these plates
in late summer 1835, just before angry investors destroyed his home and
possessions. Baltimore residents, perhaps led by Robert Gilmor, compensated
Audubon for the loss of his property.
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