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AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES (after); KIDD, JOSEPH
BARTHOLOMEW (painter).
Cliff Swallows.
Oil on millboard,
labeled on verso: “The only manufactory for genuine Flemish
grounds on Panel and Millboard. . . R. Davy, colorman to artists,
83 Newman-Street, London.” 19x12 inches panel size. In an
antique wood frame with linen fillet.
[United Kingdom, circa 1831-33]
[20,000/30,000]
In 1831, a 23-year-old Joseph Bartholomew Kidd called on Audubon in
London, having first met him in Edinburgh a few years prior. Audubon
was greatly impressed by Kidd’s “youth, simplicity and cleverness” and
desired to put the young man’s skills to work. He hoped that they could
complete a “Natural History Gallery of Paintings” through which they
would sell oil versions of plates from Birds of America.
The project went through a number of iterations, and at times Audubon
had quite grandiose ideas for it. The incarnation which came closest to
completion is laid out in the following quote from Audubon:
“It was our intention to send them to the exhibition for sale, and to
divide the amount between us. [Kidd] painted eight, and then I proposed,
if he would paint the one hundred engravings which comprise my first volume
of Birds of America, I would pay him one hundred pounds.”
Kidd worked intermittently for Audubon from 1831 to 1833 and completed
94 oils on canvas or millboard. Approximately 40 of these paintings are
now housed in institutional collections. Of the remainder, a substantial
portion descended through the Audubon family, as is the case with the
Cliff Swallows painting.
The painting is inscribed on verso: “Mark F. Zinck”. Mark was a
great-great-grandson of John James Audubon; he was the son of Hulda
Williams, who was daughter of Lucy Audubon, who, in turn, was daughter
of JohnWoodhouse Audubon and Maria Bachman.