Peacock in the Woods, 1907

The print

Printed by theprintspace, the East London fine-art lab trusted by artists, galleries and museums. Each print is made to order on Hahnemühle German Etching, a heavyweight 310gsm mould-made paper with a slightly warm white tone and a soft, mottled texture, using archival pigment inks made to last for generations.

German Etching suits this painting especially well. Its warm tone and textured surface hold the deep greens and flecks of gold richly, with the feel of paint rather than photograph.

A note on the surface: this is a faithful reproduction of Thayer’s original study, painted fast and with total confidence. Up close it is almost abstract, all quick strokes, scratches and scrapes worked into the dark paint; step back and the peacock settles into the woods as if it had always been there. Every mark is printed exactly as it appears, and on German Etching’s textured surface it keeps the presence of the real canvas.

Sizes available:

28×35cm, 11×14″, fine art print, open edition
40×50cm, 16×20″, fine art print, open edition
60×75cm, 24×30″, fine art print, open edition

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The story

In 1909, the painter Abbott Handerson Thayer and his son Gerald published Concealing Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, arguing that an animal’s colouring, however eye-catching, works to hide it.

The peacock was his most daring example. Its famous tail, Thayer argued, was not for display at all but for disappearing, its eye-spots mimicking sunlit leaves and berries in the woods.

Not everyone was convinced. Theodore Roosevelt called the theory ludicrous and wrote a 112-page article against it; Thayer repeatedly invited him to his home in New Hampshire to see for himself, but Roosevelt never went. Part of Thayer’s idea, countershading, proved right and is still known as Thayer’s law. The painting is now in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.