John J. Audubon Hummingbird Luminaries

John James Audubon’s (1785-1851) watercolors and his double elephant folio The Birds of America (1827–38) are recognized as major accomplishments in American art. Both a naturalist and artist, Audubon painted directly from his observations in the wild. “I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could,” he once said. The New-York Historical Society’s Audubon collection is the largest single repository of Auduboniana in the world.

Inspired by Audubon’s engraving of Anna’s Hummingbirds, this delightful luminary captures the playful nature and ceaseless energy of these diminutive birds.