Snowy Owl
John James Audubon; engraved by Robert Havell (1785 to 1851), 1831
$235
Print check at 16 x 24 in: 160 dpi, good. Trimmed 3.7% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $25.90 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Checkout is not open yet. Your cart is saved on this device.
Audubon poses two snowy owls on a bare crag against a night sky — one facing us head-on, wide-eyed and almost comic, the other turned away in profile, so a single plate gives you the whole bird from two sides at once. It is a naturalist’s trick and a designer’s: the two white masses balance the tall sheet, and the dark ground makes them glow. Audubon insisted on life size, which forced compositions like this one and gave The Birds of America its strange, thrilling intimacy. Hand-coloured aquatint by Robert Havell, working from Audubon’s watercolours. Science with a sense of theatre.
- Maker
- John James Audubon; engraved by Robert Havell (1785 to 1851)
- Date
- 1831
- Medium of the original
- Engraving
- Original held by
- National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Credit
- National Gallery of Art, Washington · via Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00630
| Picture | 16 x 24 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 17.6 x 25.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | 320 | Excellent | Trimmed 3.7% |
| 12 x 18 in | 213 | Excellent | Trimmed 3.7% |
| 16 x 24 in | 160 | Good | Trimmed 3.7% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 20% crop |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 18% crop |
| 12 x 16 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 20% crop |
| 18 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 20 x 30 in | 128 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 20% crop |
| 24 x 36 in | 106 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 30 x 40 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | Wrong shape: a 14% crop |
| 40 x 60 in | 64 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 2,567 x 4,000 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 56, lights 234 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 183.86
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
The Old Masters
The paintings everyone knows: the summit of the canon.
All 80 pieces from The Old Masters
