Audubon Aquatint, Purple Finch

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Purple Finch, Plate 4.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
39 1/8" x 26 1/2" sheet.

Comparables: Christie's, 2004 - $3,824; Arader Galleries, 2022 - $3,600.

Provenance: John Vickers Painter's Deckled Collection, with full uncut margins.

"I have found this species from Labrador to the Texas. Mr. NUTTALL and Mr. TOWNSEND met with it on the Columbia river, and all the way to St. Louis. In South Carolina, where it appears only during severe winters, it feeds on the berries of the Virginian juniper, commonly called the red cedar; and when the berries fall to the ground, it alights to secure them" - (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).