Caribou or American Rein-Deer

Artist John James Audubon (American, 1785 - 1851)

Artist John Woodhouse Audubon (American, 1812 - 1862)

Lithographer John T. Bowen (American, 1801 - 1856)

Author John Bachman (1790-1874)

Publisher Victor Gifford Audubon (1809-1860)

Date1849-1854

Mediumlithograph on paper, hand-colored with watercolor

DimensionsOctavo: 10 3/4 × 7 1/4 inches (27.3 × 18.4 cm)

Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965

Object number11.1.10.Z.1_Caribou or American Rein-Deer

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

DescriptionThis is the first print in the twenty-sixth (26th) part of The Quadrupeds of North America in fascicles, issued in 31 parts. Horizontal print with added color depicts two antlered mammals, one lying and one standing in a landscape.

Label Text“The Caribou, or American Reindeer, is one of the most important animals of the northern parts of America.” Thus wrote J.J. Audubon and John Bachman. They compared the caribou to the European reindeer. The caribou “has never, we believe, been domesticated.” It also had never “been trained to draw sledges in the manner of the Reindeer of the old world.” Yet, the authors used the word “reindeer” as a general term. “During our expedition in Labrador we saw many trails of Reindeer.” John Woodhouse Audubon, son of John James Audubon, depicted two caribou, one with a winter coat and the other with a summer one.

ProvenancePurchased July 3, 1958 through (Nada Kramar, Washington, D.C.) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art

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