In all, Heade executed nearly 50 paintings of 20 different species for the book project. Combining elements of landscape and still life with biological and ornithological accuracy, each measures about 12 inches by 10 inches and features a male and female hummingbird near a nest, against a landscape background.

Sixteen of these exquisite vignettes, framed in groups of four, are in the Manoogian Collection. Among the most spectacular are “Hooded Visorbearer,” circa 1864–65, and “Two Sun Gems on a Branch,” circa 1864–65. “Ruby Throat of North America,” 1865, was painted somewhat later. In each, Heade beautifully captured the brilliant iridescent quality of the colorful plumage of the birds, shown in characteristic poses amidst the lush foliage of their natural habitats.

After a brief visit to Nicaragua in 1866, Heade made a final, four-month trip to Latin America in 1870, visiting Colombia, Panama and Jamaica. Building on his Gems of Brazil idea, he created another series of inventive, even larger and more complex compositions depicting his beloved hummingbirds amid dramatically enlarged, brilliantly colored tropical flowers in misty, expansive tropical settings. There is nothing quite like these works, such as “Passion Flowers and Hummingbirds,” circa 1870–83, which meld still lifes with grand landscapes.

Equally striking and glowing with jewel-like elegance are the more than 50 hummingbird-and-orchid paintings, triggered by his last South American visit, that Heade created between 1871 and 1902. Overflowing with sensuality and emotion, these unique compositions feature vivid, enlarged blooms and delicate birds, set against dramatic, mountainous backdrops. “[T]here are quite simply no other paintings like these in America or elsewhere,” says preeminent Heade authority Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr.

Outstanding examples include “Cattleya Orchid and Three Brazilian Hummingbirds,” 1871, “Orchid with Two Hummingbirds,” 1871, “Orchid and Hummingbird,” c. 1875–83, and “An Amethyst Hummingbird with a White Orchid,” c. 1875–90. Another work in this group, “Two Orchids in a Mountain Landscape,” painted in the early 1870s, fetched $937,500 at auction in May 1999, reflecting the large prices Heade’s art commands nowadays. All are knockouts.

Settling in his first and final permanent residence in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1883, Heade was commissioned by railroad and hotel tycoon Henry Flagler to paint his last great tropical landscape for Flagler’s new Hotel Ponce de Leon. “View from Fern-Tree Walk, Jamaica,” 1887, is an expansive panorama even Church might have envied. In his final years in Florida, Heade also turned out the wonderfully sensuous magnolia still lifes that are so admired today.

Driven by wanderlust, difficult and gifted, Martin Johnson Heade bequeathed to posterity works of quiet, abiding beauty, none more so than those immortalizing the dainty hummingbirds, exotic flowers and dramatic vistas of Latin America. As appreciation for these quiet gems of American art grows, so too will Heade’s reputation as one of our finest 19th-century artists.