While feathers have been used in artworks and objects all over the world and across time, their importance means that artists have also frequently depicted feathers in all kinds of other artworks. Whether included for their color, symbolism, or their connotations of rarity and elegance, feathers are found in textiles, paintings and drawings, patterns on sculptures, and objects in glass, stone and metal. Explore some different materials in this activity - which do you like best?

In 1917, Cleveland artist William J. Edmondson painted this portrait of one of his students, Caroline Mytinger, sitting at a table and trimming a hat with feathers.  He titled the painting The Blue Feather, drawing the viewer’s attention to the calligraphic curves of the feather that strikes a compelling note in the painting, juxtaposed against the yellow of the hat.  Would you have given the painting another title?  If so, what? 

The Blue Feather, 1917, William J. Edmondson 

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Morris Glauber, 1917.400

Throughout his long career, Edmondson stubbornly resisted modernist styles and proudly proclaimed himself a traditionalist. He felt that artists should paint what they see, and once declared, "When painting a portrait, I do not indulge in this ‘painting of the soul’ stuff. When some artists fail to get a likeness of a person they say they have not tried to paint him, but have painted his soul." The sitter in The Blue Feather was Edmondson's student, Caroline Mytinger, who often modeled for him. Later a portraitist in her own right, she traveled to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to record its indigenous people.

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ICA-Art Conservation

The Blue Feather

The top of this teardrop design on a wool shawl from Kashmir recalls fanned-out peacock feathers. In India, peacocks hold a variety of allegorical and spiritual meanings, and the feathers are represented in paintings, sculpture, and metalwork. A peacock may symbolize the monsoon rains, because this is the season where the males begin their colorful mating dances. Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of education, creativity, and music, is often shown riding on a peacock, but the bird can also be a warning against vanity and pride. 

Border of a Shawl, c. 1825–30, India, Kashmir 

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1925.500

Kashmiri shawls were extremely popular in the early 1800s, especially among foreigners to the Indian subcontinent. Made in the mountainous region of northwest India from wool from mountain goats from nearby Ladakh, the fabrics were especially prized for their softness and their beautiful symmetrical designs, often called paisley in English.

This textile fragment was once owned by Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) art historian and collector who is credited with introducing South Asian art to museums in the United States.



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Border of a Shawl

Birds and their feathers have long captivated artists who have an eye for color. In this watercolor, the 16th century German artist Hans Hoffman (1545-1591) faithfully copied an earlier nature study byt he great German painter and printmaker Albrecht Durer. it is easy to see that both artists were captivated by the rainbow shades of colored feathers found on the bird - pinks, oranges, red, greens and deep blues. Even the textures of the feathers are captured by the skilled brush of the watercolorist. Note the soft pin feathers on the head of the bird, and the coarser, larger feathers of the bird's wings.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1946.217

Half a century after the death of the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, his work continued to inspire artists and collectors. Hans Hoffmann was well known for his copies of Dürer’s nature studies, and in 1583 he faithfully copied Dürer’s celebrated drawing of a dead blue roller of 1512 in this exquisite watercolor. A network of very fine brushstrokes imitates the individual plumes of the bird’s underside while simultaneously suggesting an overall soft, downy texture. Several other copies of Dürer's composition exist, including one by Hoffmann in London. Both the London sheet and this sheet were signed with Hoffman’s prominent monogram and dated, indicating that he could not have intended them to pass as originals by the older master. Likely, he meant the drawing as an homage to the greatest German artist of the 1500s; his endeavor may have been sponsored by the Nuremberg-based Imhoff family, who owned Dürer's blue roller around the time this drawing was made.

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Dead Blue Roller

Feathers inspire artists in other ways as well.  American artist Florence Wyman Ivins (1881-1948), a New York based artist best known for book illustrations and advertisements for quintessentially American products like Cream of Wheat, created this small crayon and wash sketch of two girls blowing feathers into the air. 

Have you ever done this?  Why is it so satisfying?

Children Blowing Feathers, c. 1904–20, Florence Wyman Ivins 

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1924.1008

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Children Blowing Feathers

For centuries artists have put brush to paint to imagine what angel wings and angel feathers might look like. This painting of the Annunciation, the visit of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, was made in the late 14th century. The artist has imagined an angel with wings composed primarily of peacock feathers. The upper edges of the wings are lined with alternating gold and blue feathers. The gold feathers are decorated with actual bits of gold leaf, while the blue feathers were probably painted using a paint created from ground up lapis lazuli–a deep blue semi-precious stone. This blue paint was one of the most expensive used by artists in the early modern period, often more costly than the gold leaf.

The Annunciation, 1380s, Netherlands, or possibly France

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1954.393

This small but opulent panel painting was once joined to another panel with hinges to form a diptych. Given its small size, its original function was for private devotional use. It could be folded like a book when not in use and was highly portable. The missing panel has not been positively identified but probably represented another biblical scene like the Crucifixion. The painting’s refined and ornate style reflects the courtly aesthetic that appealed to royal and aristocratic patrons in the decades around 1400. On the panel’s richly tooled reverse (not visible) are the arms of the house of Hainault quartered with those of Bavaria. While this coat of arms is certainly that of the work’s patron, probably a member of the united dynasties of Hainault and Bavaria, their identity remains elusive.

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The Annunciation

More than 2000 years ago a Chinese artist, fascinated with the patterning of the feathers on a crane, mimicked the feather structure on parts of this lacquer sculpture of Cranes and Serpents, and in other parts of the bird just delights in creating abstract patterns that bear no relationship to real details. This unknown Chinese artist takes liberty with his designs, drawing from and improving upon nature for stylistic and colorful effects. 

Cranes and Serpents, 475–221 BCE, China

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.9

A different style of ritual art developed in the state of Chu in South China. In addition to bronze vessels, lacquered wood artifacts expanded the repertory of ritual implements.

This extraordinary sculpture was probably a drum stand for supporting a suspended drum in ritual ceremonies. It is unique among other excavated drum stands of the Chu, which typically show two birds standing on tigers. The theme of the bird stepping on the serpent was common in the Chu visual culture. Yet the slender proportions and seemingly flimsy structure of this particular set raise the question of whether it was utilitarian or mostly served symbolic functions in the tomb.

The birds' and serpents' bodies have designs painted in red lacquer and yellow pigment against the black lacquer. Scientific analyses confirm the additional use of a blue or green pigment that has been discolored over time.

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Cranes and Serpents 蛇座鳳鳥鼓架

This stained glass angel has feathered wings that are outlined using glass paint and colored using silver stain, a solution of silver particles that was applied to the glass and then fired in a kiln, fusing with the glass to "stain" it a a luminous yellow-gold color. Look closely at the feathers to see how the artist chose to use line and color to depict the structure and decoration of these detailed feathers.

 Stained Glass Roundel with an Angel Holding a Scroll, c. 1425–1450 France

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1921.105

The term pot-metal refers to glass that received its color in the melting pot when various metallic oxides were added. It was then possible to paint the surface of the glass in order to outline, decorate, and define details such as eyes and hair--as may be observed on this stained glass pan


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Stained Glass Roundel with an Angel Holding a Scroll

Here, the artist sculpted detailed eagle feathers in wax or clay; a mold was taken of the original in order to cast it in bronze. The wings, now lost, were cast separately and attached afterwards. The tail, body and neck feathers are all depicted realistically, even though this bird only stands about 5 inches tall. 

Imperial Eagle, 100 BCE–100 CE, probably Syria, Roman 

The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1988.40

This eagle stands on an integrated bronze base with overlapping ovoid-shaped feathers creating a layered pattern across its body, and its tail feathers fanned out. The wings, now lost, were likely cast separately in bronze and then soldered or welded to the bird’s body. The eyes are inlaid with red stones believed to be garnets. The eagle is associated with Jupiter, king of the gods, and the Roman poets Virgil and Horace described the birds as the bearers of his thunderbolt. While eagles were often depicted on Roman coins, the bird is rarely depicted in the round in Roman art.








Standards for Artists' Fascination with Feathers