Classic bird paintings

Bald Eagle painting: Audubon's plate and other classic portraits

John James Audubon painted the Bald Eagle as plate 31 of The Birds of America (1827–38), under the name White-headed Eagle; his young bird is plate 126. A free high-resolution scan is on Audubon.org. The pair shown here is from John Gould's The Birds of Europe (1832–37), drawn by Edward Lear.

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Two Bald Eagles beside a rock: a white-headed adult with a white tail in front and a dark brown, spotted young bird behind it
Bald Eagles, adult and young, from John Gould's The Birds of Europe, drawn by Edward Lear. Edward Lear, John Gould's The Birds of Europe (1832–37)

About this painting

This pair is plate 11 of John Gould's The Birds of Europe (1832–37), where the bird is the White-headed Eagle. The corner of the plate is signed “E. Lear del et lithog:”: Edward Lear drew it. Lear helped Elizabeth Gould with the plates of this book and drew some himself, as our guide to John Gould explains.

Audubon’s Bald Eagle: plate 31, “White-headed Eagle”

Audubon's plate 31 shows an adult male. He grieved that the bird had been chosen as the emblem of his country, and quoted Benjamin Franklin, who called it “a bird of bad moral character” for robbing the Osprey of its fish. He also thought the name Bald Eagle a mistake, since the white head is fully feathered.

On the Mississippi he described a pair hunting a swan: the male kept it from diving by striking at it from below, then forced it down onto the nearest shore, where his mate joined him. Plate 126 shows a young bird; for that volume he added a story from Charleston, South Carolina, where a game-cock put into a captive eagle's cage beat the eagle soundly.

Story: Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, vols. 1 (1831) and 2 (1834). See plate 31 free at Audubon.org. See plate 126 free at Audubon.org.

More classic portraits, free to see

  • John James Audubon, The Birds of America, octavo edition (1840–44), plate 14: “White-headed Sea Eagle, or Bald Eagle”. Free scan (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
  • Edward Lear, for John Gould’s The Birds of Europe (1832–37), plate 11: “White-headed Eagle” (the painting shown above). Free scan (University of Kansas Libraries)
  • Louis Agassiz Fuertes, for Elon H. Eaton’s Birds of New York (1910–14), plate 49: “Bald Eagle”, with the Golden Eagle. Free scan (Internet Archive)

About the Bald Eagle

The oldest known wild Bald Eagle lived at least 38 years: it was banded in New York in 1977 and found there again in 2015. That is a record from bird banding, not a typical lifespan. (Source: USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, 2025 longevity table.) How long do wild birds live?

Buying a print?

An original plate 31 is a hand-colored sheet about 26 by 38 inches, printed in Britain in 1827–38; many prints sold today are reproductions or small 1840s octavo prints. How to tell an original from a reproduction.

In a Birdfolio, the hardcover book of your own life list, this painting sits beside the Bald Eagle with the date and place you first saw one. See your own list as a book, free.