Plate 68 Republican or Cliff Swallow 

John James Audubon captured these Republican or Cliff Swallows using watercolor, pastel, and graphite around the early 19th century. Audubon sought to document all the birds of America with an approach that reflected both scientific observation and a romantic sensibility. The detailed rendering and lifelike poses invite us into the intimate world of these birds. We see them in their habitat, attached to a rockface with their young in tow. But consider Audubon's own position as a man of his time. As someone who was working in a period of significant expansion and exploitation of natural resources in the United States, his work reflects a complex relationship with nature. While the artwork celebrates the beauty of wildlife, it also, perhaps inadvertently, plays a role in the larger narrative of environmental change and the complicated representation of nature. The delicate beauty of the painting draws us in, yet it also reminds us of the larger historical context in which it was created.