Grizzly Bear

John James Audubon
Plate CXXXI - Grizzly Bear
From: Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America
New York: 1845-1848
Hand colored lithograph
Sheet size: 21 ½” x 27 ½”, Framed size: 36” x 30”
$12,000

The Grizzly Bear portrayed here is likely the California Grizzly-- an extinct subspecies of the grizzly, as portrayed on the state flag. Audubon wrote in 1849, predicting (as he often did) that this animal would be hunted to extinction. "Greatly as the Grizzly Bear is dreaded, it is hunted with all the more enthusiasm" and writes how he saw many cubs in San Francisco, Sacramento and Stockton, which, is no more.