Audubon Aquatint, Hooping Crane

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Hooping Crane, Plate 261.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
38 x 25 1/2 sheet, 50 x 37 inches framed.
Comparable: Arader Galleries, 2018 - $266,500; Arader Galleries, 2018 - $150,000.
A masterpiece icon of America's tallest bird. The most challenging aquatint to acquire during the last 50 years.
"Reader, see the majestic bird shake its feathers, and again arrange them in order. Proud of its beautiful form, and prouder still of its power of flight, it stalks over the withering grasses with all the majesty of a gallant chief. With long and measured steps he moves along, his head erect, his eye glistening with delight. His great journey is accomplished, and being well acquainted with a country which has often been visited by him, he at once commences bis winter avocations." - Audubon's Ornithological Biography.