AUDUBON JOHN JAMES school of Towee Ground Finch

Sale 2540 - Lot 336

Price Realized: $ 750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES, school of. Towee Ground Finch. Colored chalk, watercolor, and graphite on wove paper. 8 3/4x11 3/4 inches sheet size; mounted to larger card, age-toned and browned, small chips to outer edges; inscribed in ink at lower edge "Towee Ground Finch [/]JA, Natchez Miss 1822". [Natchez, MS, 1822]

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John James Audubon resided in Natchez, Mississippi for approximately one year between March 1822 and spring 1823. Among other pursuits during his time there the naturalist tutored private pupils in drawing and for a brief period was an instructor at the nearby girls' college, Elizabeth Female Academy. The present sketch, ostensibly dated with the place name, is a presumed work by one of his amateur students.

In The Birds of America Towee Bunting appears as plate XXIX but that engraved image bears little resemblance to our work. However, The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds a nearly identical composition to these birds, unpublished as such, but signed by Audubon and dated 1812. Audubon tapping that original from his portfolio to provide a (likely female) Natchez pupil a simplistic model to reproduce is a potential reason for the existence of the drawing offered here.