Lot #64: Audubon Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Robins Lithographs

At either end of the spectrum, the likely extinct ivory-billed woodpecker and the ubiquitous robin. Both are matted in dark green, under glass in oak frames. The woodpecker print was engraved and colored by R. Havell, after Audubon's original watercolor. Robert Havell Jr. handled all but 10 of Audubon's 453 plates for "Birds of America." The robins print wasn't examined out of frame, so we can't see the likely same credit. Born in Haiti, Audubon was the illegitimate son of a sugar plantation owner and a chambermaid. Raised by his father in France, he immigrated to America as a teenager, using a false passport his father gave him, to avoid being drafted into the Napoleonic wars. His interest in nature combined with his rapidly developing skills as an artist, and his innovative means of staging birds he had shot so as to draw them most accurately. He traveled the country, observing birds, their habits, their surroundings, and began to create the watercolors that would eventually be collected in his monumental "Birds of America." Truly monumental--each of the 453 plates was double elephant folio-sized, or approximately 2' X 3', in order to show the birds at life size. He was obliged to raise the money himself for the publication of the 4-volume work over a period of years, which he did by selling subscriptions and paintings, to the tune of just over 2M in today's dollars. Both are in very good condition, with some creasing at the bottom of the woodpecker. Dimensions: woodpecker 23.5" X 30", robins 23" X 31" Pickup category timeslot {B}