This image is part of a collection of owls belonging to scholar of livres d'artiste and collector Walter Strachan (1903-1994). It is typical of the sort of work in pattern being produced by the artist at this time. Banker Roger Vieillard (1907-1989) practiced printmaking in his spare time from 1935 at the influential workshop Atelier 17 in Paris, run by innovative British printmaker Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988). He worked mainly with copper, and later tin, engraving because he preferred working three-dimensionally by gouging out his lines with a burin. Fascinated with exploring the possibilities of the burin to represent line in three-dimensional space, he often featured transparent architectural structures or human forms with 'musculature' created from line in his work. Vieillard worked in monotone, preferring to develop what he called a 'wide colour palette' just by working in cross-hatching. In the late 1950s he started to use a burin with flat end to create patterns to constrast with the line in his images. The effect can be seen in this image.

Vieillard's interest in illustration stemmed from Hayter, who in his workshop illustrated poetry by his friends. He illustrated the writings of great and classical writers, poets and philosophers, such as Ovid, Homer, Descartes, Voltaire and Apollinaire as well as his own poetry. He believed that it was very important to consider the effect of typography in illustrated books, and that the illustrator should collaborate closely with the printer. He studied the early printers of the Venetian and French Renaissance, including Aldus Manutius. Walter Strachan particularly admired his book work and owned several of his livres d'artiste [artist books].

Strachan was fascinated by the art of the book. His interest was inspired by a visit to an exhibition of artists’ books at the National Gallery in London in May 1945. In due course he wrote many articles on the subject, as well as a major reference work, The Artist and the Book in France (published 1969); he also encouraged successive Keepers of the National Art Library at the V&A “to buy them for England.” To this end he visited France every year, to meet the artists, and acquired proof pages to illustrate his articles and to show to potential purchasers of the books, including the V&A. Over the years he amassed a collection of images of owls; some of these were illustrations from livres d’artistes, and others were designed especially for him as gifts or greetings. The collection of owls began with a visit to the artist Roger Chastel (1897-1981) in 1952, where he witnessed the printing of Le Bestiaire de Paul Eluard. In a subsequent article (“Genesis and Growth of a Collection”, for Connoisseur, 1972) he explained: “My article on Chastel’s Bestiaire had the happy result of bringing me a special print on Auvergne paper of the owl which I had admired in the book. Contacts in the art-world of Paris are close and friendly, and I was marked down as an owl-man, in consequence of which I have gradually been given dedicated owl prints and originals in every medium from pen and ink to enamel…”