The World's Only Direct-camera Audubon Quadruped Re-creations.

Common Virginian Deer, Plate # 136, limited edition of 750, 22" x 28", Southart/Parkway Series  $300

Toward the end of his life, Audubon endeavored to depict all the known species of North American mammals.  These were published in three sets by J. Bowen between 1845 and 1848.  Known in the trade as the Imperials, his detailed images measured 22 x 28 inches.  We have produced same size facsimiles of these engravings, using the fine originals from the Princeton University collection.  These reproductions, as with our Birds of America reproductions, are direct-camera prints.  They represent the first successful attempt to reproduce directly from the actual antique originals, instead of reproducing a mere photograph of an original.  The 100% rag, acid-free Somerset archival paper is imported from England, and has the tone and texture of the originals.

AKA WHITE-TAILED DEER - PLATE CXXXVI.

Odocoileus virginianus virginianus

“Perhaps no species of wild animal inhabiting North-America, deserves to be regarded with more interest than the subject of our present article, the Common or Virginian Deer; its symmetrical form, graceful curving leap or bound, and its rushing speed, when, flying before its pursuers, it passes like a meteor by the startled traveler in the forest, exciting admiration.”

“The Virginian Deer varies considerably in colour at different periods of the year.  In the spring it is of a dusky reddish or fulvous colour above, extending over the whole head, back, upper surface of the tail and along the sides.  In the autumn it is of a bluish or lead colour, and in winter the hairs on the upper surface are longer and more dense and of a brownish dark tint.”

John Woodhouse Audubon painted this male and female in their ‘winter pelage’ or darker colors with the buck in full form for the late autumnal rut.

The White-tailed deer is by far the most common deer. In some areas it is seen as a nuisance because they are overpopulated and browse every green thing within reach creating surreal landscapes that are denuded from the forest floor to the height of a deer on its hind legs.