Richard Collins: Stunning work once dismissed as that of a self-taught amateur with ideas above his station

Some of the finest wildlife depictions ever created are Audubon's metre-high bird pictures

Sotheby's auction house worker Mary Engleheart, goes through a rare copy of a book of illustrations by John James Audubon's 'Birds of America in central London. Picture: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

Hope is the thing with feathers, 

That perches in the soul