Catesby Pl. 97, The Summer Duck

The Oppenheimer Field Museum Edition print of Catesby Pl. 97, The Summer Duck captures the quintessential style and charm of Mark Catesby’s original engraving.

Printed with archival pigments on rag watercolor paper, this modern facsimile print is part of a museum-sanctioned limited edition of 500. Meticulously proofed to faithfully capture Catesby’s original artwork, this Oppenheimer Field Museum Edition print is the perfect addition to your home interior and a great gift for the nature lovers in your life.

About The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands

The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands – Mark Catesby’s most memorable folio – visually documents the flora and fauna of colonial America through hand-colored engravings. Catesby, an English artist-naturalist, set out on an expedition of discovery to learn about the uncharted animalia of the Americas. As a self-taught artist, Catesby takes a unique approach to rendering the natural world. His prints are charming and possess an almost medieval quality. The Natural History and Appendix (1731, 1754, and 1771 editions) contain 220 prints substantiating the earliest colored book on American birds.

The Oppenheimer Field Museum Edition publication of Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands makes available 20 of his most spectacular works as modern limited-edition prints. Produced in complete fidelity to the original hand-colored engravings housed in the Field Museum collection, the Oppenheimer Editions facsimiles capture the delicate linework and intricate detail of Catesby’s artwork.

About Mark Catesby

Mark Catesby was an English self-taught artist and explorer who created one of the first folios examining the flora and fauna of North America. Born in 1682, Catesby traveled to the New World on a legendary discovery expedition a century before the renowned artist-naturalist John James Audubon first published his work, The Birds of America. His exploration of the southern British colonies resulted in the publication of his illustrated folio, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Catesby also contributed to the research of renowned taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (1707—1778), who included over 70 of Catesby’s bird illustrations in his landmark work, Systema Naturae.

About Oppenheimer Editions

Established in 1999, our publishing company Oppenheimer Editions was developed in order to produce modern facsimiles of historic works of art. Marrying cutting-edge digital printing technologies with canonical works of art, Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with prestigious museums to make their holdings accessible to the public as fine art prints. Works from the New-York Historical Society’s unrivaled collections of John James Audubon’s watercolors and the Hudson River School paintings are examples of art that otherwise would be unobtainable.

Among the institutional collections we have partnered with are the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Our Oppenheimer Editions prints are not mere reproductions. Rather, they are limited-edition fine art prints made with the finest quality archival pigments on rag watercolor paper and executed to exacting standards.

For more information about Catesby Pl. 97, The Summer Duck , email us at j[email protected] or check out our articles Spontaneous Surrealism in Mark Catesby’s Artwork and Catesby’s Crustaceans – Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands.

More information about Bird & animal artView More Articles

An Obsession with Natural History and Victorian Collecting Crazes

Spanning the majority of the 19th century, the Victorian era was marked by a rise [...]

17
Apr

Collecting Guide: Oppenheimer Editions Audubon Prints

Since its inception in 1996, our publishing company Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with major institutions [...]

04
Apr

Exploring Early Methods of Specimen Collection in Natural History Art

Have you ever wondered where the reference material for antique wildlife prints and paintings came [...]

27
Mar

The Alchemy of Nature – Using Gold in Natural History Art

While found less frequently in natural history art than other genres, gold nonetheless makes an [...]

20
Feb

John Gould’s Family of Hummingbirds Lithographs

John Gould’s monograph The Family of Hummingbirds is considered the crowning achievement of his illustrious [...]

06
Jan

Casualties of Fashion: The Contentious History of Plume Plundering

Though the idea of ornamenting oneself with a bird carcass may be a bit deterring [...]

18
Jul

The Birds of Paradise: One of Nature’s Most Elusive, Ostentatious, and Promiscuous Families

The Introduction of Birds-of-Paradise to the Western Imagination

24
Jun

The Articulation of Macabre Bird Habits in John Gould’s Prints

Exposing the unsavory tendencies of the Common Cuckoo and Great Grey Shrike in Gould’s Birds [...]

21
Jun

Original Duck & Geese Paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

A beautiful selection of original watercolor paintings by renowned artist Louis Agassiz Fuertes has recently [...]

19
Jun

The Inclusion of Foreign Avian Species in Gould’s Birds of Europe

When browsing the contents of John Gould’s compendious Birds of Europe, the majority of the [...]

16
Jun