i / Natural Exploration
Heade shifts from salt marshes to depicting tropical scenes in the mid-1860s, inspired by a series of three trips to Latin America between 1863 and 1870.23 He retires his panoramic proportions in favor of large-scale landscapes and intimate portrayals of birds and flowers. Heade bases his itinerary on Alexander von Humboldt’s voyage sixty years earlier, which generated a popular intrigue for the exotic sights and wonders beyond the United States border.24 The publications of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and John Gould’s Monograph of the Trochilidæ were also fresh on Heade’s mind during his 1863 trip.25
John Gould, Monograph of the Trochilidæ, or the Hummingbirds, Vol. I (London: 1849), Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
In Brazil, Heade undertakes an unfinished project under the patronage of the emperor Dom Pedro II, titled The Gems of Brazil, which composes monographic paintings of hummingbirds endemic to the country.26 He details many of the hummingbirds from life, like the Red-tailed Comet below, “gleaning all information relating to the birds in their native context to make it as reliable” as possible.27 Heade assumes the role of an amateur naturalist, mimicking the field practices of scientists and ornithologists for his production of The Gems of Brazil.
(right) Red-tailed Comet (Sappho sparganurus): Martin Johnson Heade, Brazilian Sketchbook and Journal, Notebook with manuscript and sketches in pen and ink and graphite, 1865, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (left) Martin Johnson Heade, Two Hummingbirds with Their Young, Oil on canvas, ca. 1865, Yale University Art Gallery.
| Items from Yale University Collections |
