BLUE CRANE, OR HERON... VIEW NEAR CHARLESTONE S.C. (PLATE CCCVII)

Little Blue Heron, "Egretta caerulea" JW 36 fine, fresh impression, two small breaks in the upper margin, two short tears in the upper edge, a small crease in the lower left margin corner, a few stray fox marks, minor soiling 21 1/8 by 30 1/2 in.; 537 by 775 mm. Based on a composition painted in 1832 in Charleston, South Carolina. "You may see this graceful Heron, quietly and in silence walking along the margins of the water with an elegance and grace which can never fail to please you. Each regularly-timed step is lightly measured, while the keen eye of the bird seeks for and watches the equally cautious movements of the objects at a proper distance, it darts forth its bill with astonishing celerity, to pierce and secure its prey." See color illustration on Plate XIX.