Audubon Aquatint, Republican Cliff Swallow

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Republican Cliff Swallow, Plate 68.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
39 1/2" x 26 1/2" sheet.

Comparables: Sotheby's, 2009 - $5,313; Christie's, 2004 - $4,183.

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

" The energy with which they defended their nests was truly astonishing. Although I had taken the precaution to visit them at sun-set, when I supposed they would all have been at rest, yet a single female happening to give the alarm, immediately called. out the whole tribe. They snapped at my hat, body and legs, passed between me and the nests, within an inch of my face, twittering their rage and sorrow. They continued their attacks as I descended, and accompanied me for some distance. Their note may be perfectly imitated by rubbing a cork damped with spirit against the neck of a bottle. " - (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).