Portrait of John James Audubon

John James Audubon Painting Reproductions 2 of 3

1785-1851

Haitian Romanticism Painter

John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 - January 27, 1851) was a Franco-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America. (Since Audubon was born illegitimate, he was at first named Jean Rabine (his mother was called Jeanne Rabine). She died six months later and in August 1788 his father took him to France to be raised by his wife, Anne Moynet. He was formally adopted in March 1789 and named Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon, which he later americanized.)
Audubon was born in Haiti (then called Saint Domingue), the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and his mistress, and raised in Nantes, France by his stepmother.
In 1803 his father obtained a false passport for him to travel to the United States to avoid the Napoleonic Wars.
He caught yellow fever and the sea captain placed him in a boarding house run by Quaker women who nursed him to recovery and taught him the unique Quaker form of English. In that year he met and became engaged to his neighbor Lucy Bakewell, whom he married in 1808.
He oversaw a family farm near Philadelphia and began the study of natural history by conducting the first bird-banding on the continent; he tied yarn to the legs of Eastern Phoebes and determined that they returned to the same nesting spots year after year. He also began drawing and painting birds.
After years of business success in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, he went bankrupt. This compelled him to pursue his nature study and painting more vigorously and he sailed off down the Mississippi with his gun and paintbox and assistant, intent on finding and painting all the birds of North America.
On his arrival in New Orleans in the spring of 1821, he lived for a time at 706 Barracks Street. That summer, he moved upriver to the Oakley Plantation in the Felicianas to teach drawing to Eliza Pirrie, the young daughter of the owners, and where he spent much of his time roaming and painting in the woods. (The plantation, located at 11788 Highway 965, between Jackson and St. Francisville, is now Audubon State Historic Site, and guided tours are available daily.)
In order to draw or paint the birds, he had to shoot them first, using fine shot to prevent them from being shot to pieces. He then used fixed wires to prop them up, restoring a natural position. His birds are set true-to-life in their natural habitat. This was in stark contrast with the stiff representations of birds by his contemporaries, such as Alexander Wilson. Audubon once wrote: "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day". One of his biographers, Duff Hart-Davis, reveals: "The rarer the bird, the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Since he had no other income, he eked out a living selling portraits on demand, while his wife, Lucy, worked as a tutor to rich plantation families. He sought a publisher for his birds in Philadelphia but was rebuffed, in part because he had earned the enmity of some of the city's leading scientists at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Finally, in 1826 he set sail with his portfolio to London. The British couldn't get enough of images of backwoods America and he was an instant success. He was lionized as "The American Woodsman" and raised enough money to publish his Birds of America. This consisted of hand-colored, life-size prints made from engraved plates. Even King George IV was an avid fan of Audubon. He was elected a fellow of London's Royal Society. In this, he followed the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, who was the first American fellow. While in Edinburgh to seek subscriptions for his book, he gave a demonstration of his method of using wires to prop up birds at professor Robert Jameson's Wernerian Natural History Association with the student Charles Darwin in the audience and also visited the dissecting theatre of the anatomist Robert Knox (not long before Knox became associated with Burke and Hare).
He followed his "Birds of America" up with a companion work, Ornithological Biographies, life histories of each species written with Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray. Both the books of paintings and the biographies were published between 1827 and 1839.
During that time, Audubon continued making expeditions in North America and bought an estate on the Hudson river, now Audubon Park. In 1842 he published a popular edition of Birds of America in the United States. His final work was on mammals, the Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America. It was completed by his sons and son-in-law. He is buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery at 155th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, New York.
The National Audubon Society was incorporated and named in his honor in 1905. Several towns and one county (in Iowa) also bear his name.
He started a General Store in Louisville, Kentucky, lived in Henderson, Kentucky, and witnessed the 1811-1812 earthquakes. He had two sons: Victor Gifford (b. June 12, 1809) and John Woodhouse (b. November 30, 1812), and two daughters: Lucy (1815-1817) and Rose (1819).

51 Audubon Paintings

Western Shore Lark, a.1843 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Western Shore Lark a.1843

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-12090
John James Audubon
Original Size: 16.3 x 26.3 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Le Conte's Sharp-Tailed Bunting, a.1843 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Le Conte's Sharp-Tailed Bunting a.1843

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-12091
John James Audubon
Original Size: 26 x 17.1 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Harris' Finch, a.1843 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Harris' Finch a.1843

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-12092
John James Audubon
Original Size: 26 x 17.1 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Bos Americanus, American Bison or Buffalo, 1845 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Bos Americanus, American Bison or Buffalo 1845

Paper Art Print
$55.03
SKU: AJJ-12093
John James Audubon
Original Size: 48.2 x 53.6 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Mocking Bird, Turdus Polyglottus, c.1825 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Mocking Bird, Turdus Polyglottus c.1825

Paper Art Print
$87.33
SKU: AJJ-12094
John James Audubon
Original Size: 98.4 x 64.4 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Florida Jay. Garrulus Floridanus. From Birds of America, 1830 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Florida Jay. Garrulus Floridanus. From Birds of America 1830

Paper Art Print
$96.77
SKU: AJJ-12095
John James Audubon
Original Size: 85.4 x 64.7 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

The Bird of Washington or Great American Sea Eagle, 1822 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

The Bird of Washington or Great American Sea Eagle 1822

Paper Art Print
$80.64
SKU: AJJ-12096
John James Audubon
Original Size: 95.8 x 62.8 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

White-Headed Eagle, n.d. by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

White-Headed Eagle n.d.

Paper Art Print
$82.53
SKU: AJJ-12097
John James Audubon
Original Size: 95.2 x 63.5 cm
Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Wyoming, USA

Long-Billed Curlew, 1834 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Long-Billed Curlew 1834

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-17596
John James Audubon
Original Size: 58.4 x 89.8 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA

Field Bunting, c.1840/44 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Field Bunting c.1840/44

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-17597
John James Audubon
Original Size: 24.4 x 12 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA

Frigate Pelican, 1835 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Frigate Pelican 1835

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-18187
John James Audubon
Original Size: 96.6 x 64.3 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, USA

Pileated Woodpecker, Picus pileatus, c.1834 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Pileated Woodpecker, Picus pileatus c.1834

Paper Art Print
$48.78
SKU: AJJ-19651
John James Audubon
Original Size: 97.4 x 65 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Lepus texianus. Texian Hare, Male, 1848 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Lepus texianus. Texian Hare, Male 1848

Paper Art Print
$52.77
SKU: AJJ-19652
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.7 x 71 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Meles labradoria, Sabine, American Badger, 1844 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Meles labradoria, Sabine, American Badger 1844

Paper Art Print
$54.10
SKU: AJJ-19653
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.7 x 71 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Cervus richardsonii. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer. Males, 1847 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Cervus richardsonii. Columbian Black-Tailed Deer. Males 1847

Paper Art Print
$58.48
SKU: AJJ-19654
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.6 x 70.8 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Canis familiaris, Linn. Hare-Indian Dog. Male, 1848 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Canis familiaris, Linn. Hare-Indian Dog. Male 1848

Paper Art Print
$55.42
SKU: AJJ-19655
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.5 x 70.8 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Canis (Vulpes) fulvus. American Cross Fox, 1843 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Canis (Vulpes) fulvus. American Cross Fox 1843

Paper Art Print
$58.08
SKU: AJJ-19656
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.8 x 71 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

American Bison or Buffalo, 1845 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

American Bison or Buffalo 1845

Paper Art Print
$57.42
SKU: AJJ-19657
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.7 x 71 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

American Crow. Corvus americanus, 1833 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

American Crow. Corvus americanus 1833

Paper Art Print
$48.91
SKU: AJJ-19658
John James Audubon
Original Size: 97.2 x 65 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Snow Bird, Fringilla nivalis, 1827 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Snow Bird, Fringilla nivalis 1827

Paper Art Print
$48.24
SKU: AJJ-19659
John James Audubon
Original Size: 100.3 x 67 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Ruby-Throated Humming Bird, Trochilus colubris, c.1827/30 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Ruby-Throated Humming Bird, Trochilus colubris c.1827/30

Paper Art Print
$57.95
SKU: AJJ-19660
John James Audubon
Original Size: 99.5 x 67 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Woodpeckers: Hairy, Red-Bellied, Red-Shafted, Lewis, Red-Breasted, 1838 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Woodpeckers: Hairy, Red-Bellied, Red-Shafted, ... 1838

Paper Art Print
$48.51
SKU: AJJ-19661
John James Audubon
Original Size: 100.3 x 67.4 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Purple Grackle, Quiscalus versicolor, 1827 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Purple Grackle, Quiscalus versicolor 1827

Paper Art Print
$57.42
SKU: AJJ-19662
John James Audubon
Original Size: 101 x 68 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

Franklins Marmot Squirrel, 1846 by Audubon | Painting Reproduction

Franklins Marmot Squirrel 1846

Paper Art Print
$56.76
SKU: AJJ-19665
John James Audubon
Original Size: 55.7 x 71 cm
Amon Carter Museum, Texas, USA

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