Don Balke (North Carolina, B. 1933) "Purple Mountains and Bald Eagle in Flight" Signed lower right. Original Watercolor painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. For centuries, the Eagle has been the stirring symbol of power, courage and freedom. It has also been the fitting national, military and heraldic emblem for many great and noble causes down through history. Single or double-headed Eagles have denoted the might and unity of such memorable leaders as Charlemagne, Napoleon, the Caesars, and the Russian czars. An Eagle devouring a serpent appears on Mexico's national seal and symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. In 1782, the newly-created United States of America adopted a spread-winged Bald Eagle, brandishing arrows of war and the olive branch of peace, as its national seal. The early patriots -- the fathers of the nation -- saw the Eagle as an appropriate emblem of both the young nation's strength and its liberty. Though the guns of hunters and the inroads of civilization have since threatened its very existence, the proud Bald Eagle remains the soaring symbol of the Republic. The Eagle endures today as a proud symbol of the strongest nation on earth. Courage, freedom, and power -- all qualities the Eagle has represented to countless empires for centuries -- are never better embodied than in the United States of America. The Bald Eagle fittingly represents the character of a strong, proud American nation. Image Size: 14 x 18.75 in. Overall Size: 18.25 x 20 in. Unframed. (B15365) See More