"During the first and second decades of this century, Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927) was generally regarded as the greatest living painter of bird. The tradition of bird portraiture had been well established, to be sure, ever since John James Audubon was active in the first half of the nineteenth century, and a number of very talented artists had tried their hands at interpreting the elusive qualities of avian grace and strength that have held the human imagination since prehistoric times. Fuertes, however, a talented naturalist, associated for many years with Cornell University, brought a new vision to the art, one which focused on the qualities of the living bird, on the internal spark rather than on form alone." -- Book jacket.