Two Birds in Conversation: Audubon's Mississippi Kites
Mississippi Kite Audubon Bird Print - Plate 117
The Patient Art of Looking
John James Audubon spent his life convinced that American birds deserved to be seen as they truly were, not as museum specimens pinned flat and lifeless. When he turned his brush to the Mississippi Kite around 1820, he was already decades into a labor that would consume the rest of his life: painting every bird species in North America with a precision born of both artistic genius and genuine scientific hunger.
Plate 117 from Birds of America captures two kites in a moment that feels both still and alive. Their blue-gray plumage catches light against a bare branch; lichen and pale strands drape the wood like natural decoration. The upper bird's open bill and lifted feathers create a subtle tension, as if the artist caught them between rest and movement. Audubon understood that ornithological art wasn't about rendering museum skins, but about understanding how a bird lived, how it held itself in the actual world.
The Mississippi Kite was a subject worth his attention. These lean raptors were North American natives, elegant in their economy of form. Audubon observed them with the patience his method demanded, drawing from life whenever possible, consulting specimens, relying on hunters and fellow naturalists for details he couldn't witness himself. The result was a body of work that merged art and natural history so seamlessly that museums and libraries across two centuries have treated his prints as both aesthetic treasures and scientific documents.
Our reproduction restores the clarity and character of this 1820s illustration while preserving the warmth and detail Audubon intended. Whether for a study wall, a naturalist's library, or a gallery devoted to vintage bird art, this print connects you directly to a moment when American landscape and wildlife were still being truly seen for the first time.
Paper & Craft
Museum-quality giclée printing on 325gsm archival matte paper ensures your vintage bird print will hold its color and character for generations. We restore each Audubon illustration for clarity while honoring the original's personality, printing with archival inks that resist fading. The result is wall art that feels both historically authentic and vibrantly present.