[Prints] Audubon, John James Barred Owl

London: R. Havell, 1828. Hand-colored engraving with aquatint and etching. Engraved by R. Havell, Jr., and colored and printed by R. Havell, Sr., after Audubon's watercolor. 38 7/8 x 25 9/16 in. (99 x 65 cm). Sheet mounted to board; edges slightly trimmed; scattered spotting, left side; light mat burn and scattered light soiling along edges; hand-coloring slightly faded. In mat and in frame, 46 x 32 7/8 in. (117 x 83 cm); bottom right of mat cracked. Low, p. 55, Variant No. 1

Plate 46 from Audubon's The Birds of America (London, 1827-38). "Painting depicts one male on a thick branch. In his notes, Audubon wrote that he painted the bird facing a squirrel, but for some reason he did not put the squirrel in the painting; instead he made a separate painting of it, which Havell incorporated into the plate...The bird was probably painted in 1821, when Audubon was in or near New Orleans." (Susanne M. Low, A Guide to Audubon's Birds of America, p. 55)