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Sunday, February 06, 2011

Mississippi Kite - Wilson - Alexander

In the previous post, I wrote about the charge brought by Audubon that Wilson had "copied" Audubon's Small-headed Flycatcher. Later this month, we will have the opportunity to compare the two paintings.

Wilson's friends counter charged that Audubon was "inspired' (my word) by several of Wilson's paintings. The previous post has illustrations of the Bald Eagle by both Wilson and Audubon. Wilson's painting is without question the earlier painting.

Audubon's Mississippi Kite was cited as another example of Audubon being "inspired" by Wilson. Again, Wilson's painting is definitely the earlier painting. Here are the two illustrations. What do you think? Did Audubon copy Wilson?

Wilson's Mississippi Kite

Audubon's Mississippi Kite
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3 comments:

  1. Chris4:02 PM

    Maybe he copied, maybe not.. The second illustration is much more detailed thought!

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  2. Folkways Note Book6:53 PM

    Chris -- Pretty close to each other in design -- tough call -- barbara

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  3. Hilke Breder3:43 PM

    They are almost exact duplicates of each other. I flipped Wilson's horizontally, selected the bird, copied and pasted it on Audubon's. The tail and body are the same. The head is positioned a little differently but is also a close duplicate. Doubt it's a coincidence.

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