AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Great Horned Owl, Plate 61.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
39 1/4" x 26 1/2" sheet, with deckled uncut edges.

Provenance: John Vickers Painter's Collection, Deckled Uncut.

Comparable: Arader Galleries, 2019 - $68,750; Arader Galleries, 2020 - $61,000.

No matter where you are standing the eyes of these two Owls will follow you around the room.

Lots 1-10 are wonderful examples of Audubon's aquatints, and are the finest we have ever seen. Of the roughly 180 sets of Audubon produced from 1827-1838, we know of only six that were never bound (one for King William, one in Moscow and 4 others). These aquatints come from one of the unbound sets owned by John Vickers Painter in Cleveland in the 1880's. Because it was never bound, they have huge untrimmed paper sheets of approximately 39 1/2" x 26 1/2" in size, while a standard bound Audubon has a paper size of 38 5/8" x 25 3/4". To collectors, a full uncut sheet makes a tremendous difference. Beyond this, they are in mint original condition with no restoration, and color with the highest level of gradations creating compelling dimension and depth.

"The flight of the Great Horned Owl is elevated, rapid and graceful. It sails with apparent ease, and in large circles, in the manner of an eagle, rises and descends without the least difficulty, by merely inclining its wings or its tail, as it passes through the air. Now and then, it glides silently close over the earth, with incomparable velocity, and drops, as if shot dead, on the prey beneath. At other times, it suddenly alights on the top of a fence-stake or a dead stump, shakes its feathers, arranges them, and utters a shriek so horrid that the woods around echo to its dismal sound. Now, it seems as if you heard the barking of a cur-dog; again, the notes are so rough and mingled together, that they might be mistaken for the last gurgling's of a murdered person, striving in vain to call for assistance; at another time, when not more than fifty yards distant, it utters it's more usual hoo, hoo, hoo-e, in so peculiar an under tone, that a person unacquainted with the notes of this species might easily conceive them to be produced by an Owl more than a mile distant - Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831.