Mark Catesby
Red-Crested Woodpecker

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Artist Mark Catesby (English, 1683–1749)English, 1683–1749

CultureEnglish

Titles

Red-Crested Woodpecker
from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands

Datec. 1731–1742

PlaceLondon, England

MediumEtching with engraving and watercolor on laid paper

DimensionsSheet: 13 7/8 × 10 1/4 in. (35.3 × 26 cm)

Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Jameson

Object numberB.69.524

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

DescriptionEnglish-born naturalist Mark Catesby first arrived in colonial North America in 1712 when he accompanied his older sister to Williamsburg, Virginia, where he soon began to collect botanical specimens. During the 1720s, with the encouragement of English backers, he traveled extensively in the American South and in the Caribbean, making paintings of animals, birds, and plant life. He returned to England in 1726 and began work on The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, presenting the first section to Queen Caroline in 1729. First published in eleven sections between1734 and 1747, Catesby’s work ranks as one of the century’s great achievements in natural history.
Provenance[Taylor Clark, Baton Rouge, Louisiana]; purchased by Robert D. Jameson, Houston, September 4, 1969; given to MFAH, 1969.

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