Name/Title
"Wild Turkey"Entry/Object ID
00.285.1Description
Oil on canvas painting of large turkey. The turkey is walking to the viewer's right but the turkey is looking to the viewer's left. Tall grasses grow behind the turkey. The backside contains a plaque stating "Painted by Julia R. Fisher Bachman, 1834-1915." The painting is in a brown wooden frame with a thin gold interior border.Type of Painting
EaselContext
Columbia native Julia Rush Fisher Bachman (1834-1915) painted this near replica of John James Audubon’s (1785-1851) “Wild Turkey,” notable for being the first illustration in his seminal work The Birds of America. To complete The Birds of America and several other works, Audubon partnered with Julia’s father-in-law, John Bachman (1790-1874), who performed ornithological research, and her step-mother-in-law, Maria Martin (1796-1863), who drafted the background illustrations for many of Audubon’s drawings. Julia likely translated the “Wild Turkey” engraving into oil while living in the Fisher-Bachman House on Hampton Street with her husband, William K. Bachman (1830-1901), and her in-laws sometime before the Civil War.Dimensions
Dimension Description
CanvasWidth
28 inLength
40 inDimension Description
FramedWidth
34 inLength
46 in
