[Prints] Audubon, John J(ames). White-headed Eagle

London: John J. Audubon, (1836). Hand-colored engraving with aquatint and etching, on J. Whatman watermarked paper, dated 1836. Engraved, printed, and colored by R(obert). Havell after Audubon. Trimmed close to plate-mark; scattered small chipping and very small closed tears along edges. 25 1/4 x 37 7/8 in. (641 x 962 mm). In mat and in frame, 28 1/2 x 41 1/4 in. (724 x 1048 mm). Low, pp. 46-47, Variant 2

Plate XXXI from Audubon's The Birds of America (London, 1827-38). "Painting and plate depict one adult bird on a rock, feeding on a Catfish, with mountains in the distance. Audubon was dissatisfied with an earlier painting he had done in Missouri in 1820, in which the bird was feeding on a Goose; so in London in 1828 he made a new painting with the catfish instead of the goose. Although Audubon was confused about the young Bald Eagle which he painted for Plate XI, which he called Bird of Washington (see lot 157), he had the species correct for the bird he painted here (an adult)..." (Susanne M. Low, A Guide to Audubon's Birds of America, pp. 46-47).

A lovely example of America's national bird.