John Audubon

John James Audubon

1785-1851

John James Audubon: The American Woodsman and Ornithological Pioneer

Early Life and Background

John James Audubon (born Jean Rabin, later Jean-Jacques Audubon) was a naturalist, artist, and ornithologist of extraordinary vision and perseverance. Born on May 4, 1780, near New Orleans, Louisiana, his early life was a blend of privilege and hardship. His father, Captain Jean Audubon, was a French naval officer who had risen from humble origins as the son of a fisherman in La Vendée, France, to command a man-of-war and own a plantation in Louisiana. His mother, Anne Moynette, was a woman of Spanish descent who tragically died during an uprising of enslaved people in Santo Domingo (modern-day Haiti) when Audubon was still a child.

Following his mother’s death, Audubon was taken to France, where his father formally adopted him. In France, the young Audubon was immersed in the Enlightenment ideals of scientific curiosity and artistic expression. His father encouraged his early love for nature, fostering a fascination with birds and wildlife. Audubon’s initial attempts to capture the beauty of birds through drawing often left him dissatisfied, leading him to destroy his sketches annually on his birthday. Nevertheless, his innate talent did not go unnoticed. To refine his skills, his father arranged for him to study under the famed French artist Jacques-Louis David. However, Audubon’s passion for depicting the natural world clashed with the classical themes taught in David’s studio. Preferring excursions into the countryside over academic exercises, Audubon’s artistic ambitions became firmly tied to his love of nature.

Immigration to America and Early Endeavors

In 1803, at the age of 17, Audubon immigrated to America, settling at Mill Grove, a farm near Philadelphia that his father had purchased. There, he fully embraced the wilderness, spending countless hours exploring the woods, collecting specimens, and honing his artistic skills. It was at Mill Grove that he met Lucy Bakewell, the daughter of a neighboring English family. Lucy would become his wife and a steadfast supporter throughout his tumultuous career.

Despite his love for nature, Audubon’s initial attempts at establishing himself in America were fraught with challenges. His father had hoped he would join the navy, but Audubon’s disinterest in a maritime career led to a different path. In 1808, shortly after marrying Lucy, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he partnered with Ferdinand Rozier in a mercantile venture. The partnership was marked by repeated financial struggles, as Audubon’s attention was often diverted by his obsession with observing and documenting birds. His eccentric habits, including drying bird skins in his room, even led to legal complaints from neighbors.

Meeting Alexander Wilson and Deepening Passion for Ornithology

During his time in Louisville, Audubon met Alexander Wilson, a fellow ornithologist and author of American Ornithology. Wilson was astounded by the quality of Audubon’s bird drawings, which often surpassed his own in detail and artistry. Although Wilson sought Audubon’s subscription to his work, their relationship quickly soured, as Wilson grew envious of his rival’s superior artistic ability. This encounter, however, solidified Audubon’s determination to document North America’s avian species in a manner that had never been attempted before.

By 1812, Audubon’s mercantile ventures had failed entirely, prompting him to move his family to Hendersonville, Kentucky. There, he continued his explorations and artistic pursuits while taking on various jobs to support his growing family, including teaching drawing and music. Despite his financial struggles, Audubon’s work began to take shape as he developed innovative techniques for portraying birds in lifelike poses, often using wires and props to position specimens.

Financial Hardships and Support from Lucy

Audubon’s unwavering devotion to his craft brought his family to the brink of poverty. His wife, Lucy, emerged as a pillar of support, taking on work as a governess and later establishing a school to sustain their household. Her sacrifices allowed Audubon to pursue his dream, even as friends and acquaintances viewed him as eccentric and impractical. The loss of a substantial inheritance—entrusted to a friend in Virginia who later went bankrupt—further compounded their difficulties.

In 1820, Audubon suffered a devastating setback when a rat infestation destroyed nearly 200 of his original bird drawings. Though disheartened, he resolutely began recreating his collection. Around this time, Prince Canino, the son of Lucien Bonaparte, encouraged Audubon to publish his work, planting the seed for what would become his life’s defining achievement.

The Birds of America: A Monumental Achievement

In 1826, Audubon traveled to England with his portfolio of bird drawings, seeking patrons for his ambitious project. Initially met with skepticism, his work soon garnered acclaim for its artistic brilliance and scientific accuracy. Audubon’s life-sized depictions of birds, set against naturalistic backgrounds, captivated European audiences. Esteemed figures such as Sir Walter Scott, Georges Cuvier, and Sir Thomas Lawrence became his supporters.

With their encouragement, Audubon began publishing The Birds of America, a series of 435 hand-colored plates depicting 489 species. The work, issued in parts between 1827 and 1838, was an extraordinary financial undertaking. Each copy was priced at $1,000—equivalent to over $30,000 today—and required relentless fundraising and personal solicitation. Audubon supported himself during this period by painting portraits, teaching, and selling his drawings. Despite losing some subscribers due to the high cost, he persevered, ultimately securing his place as one of history’s greatest naturalists and artists.

Collaboration with Family and Later Works

After completing The Birds of America, Audubon turned his attention to The Quadrupeds of North America, a collaborative effort with his sons, Victor and John Woodhouse Audubon, and the Reverend John Bachman. This work, published between 1846 and 1854, extended his legacy to the study of mammals. Audubon’s sons played crucial roles in this endeavor, with Victor focusing on landscapes and John contributing animal illustrations.

Final Years and Legacy

Audubon’s later years were marked by declining health and financial stability. He spent his final days at his estate, Minniesland, located along the Hudson River in what is now Audubon Park in New York City. By 1848, dementia had rendered him unable to work. He passed away on January 27, 1851, at the age of 70. He was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery, adjacent to his beloved Minniesland.

Lucy Audubon survived her husband by many years, dedicating herself to preserving his legacy. She compiled and edited his journals, publishing a biography in 1868. Audubon’s influence extended beyond his lifetime, with his work continuing to inspire naturalists, artists, and conservationists worldwide.

Recognition and Honors

Audubon’s contributions earned him memberships in numerous scientific societies, including the Linnaean Society of London, the Natural History Society of Paris, and the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh. His name endures in institutions, parks, and organizations dedicated to the study and preservation of nature, most notably the National Audubon Society.

Footnotes

1. Dunlap, William. History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. New York: George P. Scott, 1834.

2. Smiles, Samuel. Brief Biographies. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1861.

3. St. John, Mrs. Horace. Audubon, the Naturalist in the New World. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1856.

4. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The Prose Writers of America. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1847.

5. Adams, Rev. C. C. Journal of the Life and Labors of J. J. Audubon.

John James Audubon: Appleton's Bio below:

AUDUBON, John James, naturalist, born near New Orleans, La., 4 May, 1780; died near New York city, 27 Jan., 1851. His grandfather was a fisherman of La Vendee, in France, and his father, who had worked his way up to the command of a French man-of-war, and had acquired a plantation in Louisiana, married there a lady of Spanish descent, named Anne Moynette. When very young, Audubon lived for a short time on a plantation belonging to his father in Santo Domingo, and, after his mother's death in a African American insurrection, was taken to France to be educated. 

His parents had encouraged in him a love of nature almost before he was able to walk, and he had long amused himself by trying to transfer to paper the graceful forms of the tropical birds with which he was familiar. Although his efforts fell so far short of his ideal that he was accustomed to make a bonfire of them on each birthday, they nevertheless showed talent, and his father placed him in the studio of the celebrated painter David. Here he was set to drawing horses' heads and the limbs of giants, instead of his favorite birds. He persevered, however, in this one study, while he neglected all the others, preferring to spend his time in excursions through the woods, gathering specimens and making drawings of birds. Seeing his tastes, his father, who had designed him for the navy, gave up his plan, and sent the boy, then seventeen years old, to a farm belonging to him at Mill Grove, near Philadelphia. Here young Audubon spent his time in hunting, fishing, drawing, and collecting specimens of natural history. 

A visit to France, made to lay before his father some grievances against the agent who had charge of the property, enabled Audubon to add largely to his collections. His house at Mill Grove became a museum, filled with stuffed animals, and decorated with festoons of birds' eggs, and with drawings of birds and beasts. He became an excellent marksman, and was also at this time quite a dandy, if we may credit his own account. While at Mill Grove he fell in love with Lucy Bakewell, daughter of an Englishman who had come to America a few years before, and whose property adjoined that of Audubon. At the desire of Mr. Bakewell, who thought him somewhat unpractical, he entered the employ of a firm in New York, where he soon demonstrated his lack of interest in anything but natural history, collecting specimens with his usual earnestness, and letting business take care of itself. It is related that his neighbors at one time made a legal complaint against him on account of the disagreeable odor from the drying bird skins in his room. He soon returned to his home, and, thinking he might be more successful in the west, formed a partnership with Ferdinand Rosier, a friend, and, having sold his farm, started, in 1808, for Louisville, Ky., with a stock of goods bought with the proceeds. Before setting out he married Miss Bakewell, and the journey to Louisville, part of which was made in a flatboat, was their bridal tour. In Louisville, Audubon left business to Rosier, and spent his time in the more congenial occupation of tramping the woods in search of birds and in drawing pictures of them. 

In his store at Louisville he met Alexander Wilson, the celebrated ornithologist, who had come to solicit Audubon's subscription to his book on American birds, and was naturally astonished when he was shown drawings superior to his own, some of them representing birds he had never seen. Audubon relates that he gave Wilson considerable aid in his search for specimens, but the latter seems to have been somewhat jealous of the rival he had so unexpectedly discovered, and afterward wrote disparagingly of his visit to Louisville. Audubon's business did not prosper, and, after two removals in a vain search for better success, the partnership was dissolved in 1812.

Audubon settled with his wife and their son Victor at Hendersonville, where his second son, John, was afterward born. He embarked in a business venture with his brother-in-law at New Orleans, and was again unsuccessful. During this time he was still devoting himself completely to natural history, making long excursions into the surrounding country, sometimes tramping for days through pathless thickets with only dog and gun for companions, and all the time adding new drawings to his collection. Some birds he was obliged to shoot, afterward ingeniously supporting them in natural positions while he painted them; others he drew with the aid of a telescope, representing them amid their natural surroundings.

Audubon's appearance was now very different from that of the young proprietor of Mill Grove. After some of his long tramps through tile forests, unshaven and unshorn, his rifle on his shoulder and his color box strapped on his back, he looked the veritable "American woodsman" he was afterward so fond of styling himself. He seems to have done all this with no incentive but the love of nature; the idea of publication had not yet entered his mind. About this time his father died, leaving him an estate in France and the sum of $17,000. The latter was held in trust by a friend in Richmond, Va., who failed shortly afterward, and Audubon received not a penny. His devotion to his favorite pursuit continued to bring him into financial trouble, and he was obliged to earn money by giving drawing lessons and taking crayon portraits in Louisville and Cincinnati. His friends not unnaturally looked on him as a madman, but his wife encouraged and assisted him in every way. To obtain money for the education of her children, she became a governess in New Orleans, whither her husband went in 1820, and where she joined him a year later, and again in Natchez, where they went in 1822. She afterward established a school at Bayou Sara, to help him in the publication of his work, and in this school he aided her, for some time, by teaching music and dancing.

Common American Wild Cat

The idea of giving his collection of drawings to the world was first suggested to him by Prince Canino, son of Lucien Bonaparte, whom he met in Philadelphia. Audubon had gone to that city in 1824, after earning the necessary money in various ways, on one occasion by painting the interior of a steamboat. About this time two hundred drawings, the labor of years, were destroyed in a single night by rats, and the fact that, after a day or two of natural despondency, he went bravely to work to replace his loss, illustrates Audubon's energy and perseverance. In Philadelphia he met several noted artists, but the idea of publication seems to have had little encouragement. After returning to Bayou Sara, where he had left his wife, he sailed from New Orleans, in 1826, for England, intending to seek aid there, though he had not a friend in the country. 

On his arrival he began to exhibit his drawings in public, and, though at first he met with discouragements, the value and merit of his work was soon recognized by European naturalists. The friends that he made during this visit included Herschel, Sir Walter Scott, and "Christopher North "in Great Britain, and Cuvier, Humboldt, and St. Hilaire in France. In 1827 he issued the prospectus of his famous work, "The Birds of America," which was published in numbers, each containing five plates. The whole book consisted of four folio volumes of plates, and $1,000 was the price of each copy. The entire cost of the work exceeded $100,000, and, at the time when the prospectus was issued, Audubon had not enough money to pay for the first number. The influence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, the painter, enabled the naturalist to sell several pictures at fair prices, and with the proceeds he paid the engraver's first bill of £60. After this Audubon painted frequently, often supporting himself entirely in this way. He was obliged not only to be his own publisher, but to keep the book constantly before the public by personal solicitation. 

In 1828 he spent two months in Paris canvassing for subscribers, and in 1829 returned to America for the same purpose; nevertheless, owing to the price of the book, people were slow to give him their names, and many of those who did so did not scruple to withdraw them. In this way he lost fifty subscribers during the preparation of the first volume. But, notwithstanding all drawbacks, the work went steadily forward. The first volume was issued in London in 1830, and the last in 1839. Immediately after the publication of the first volume Audubon began to write his "Ornithological Biographies," consisting of the letterpress to the "Birds," together with reminiscences of personal adventure and descriptions of scenery and character. The work consisted of five octavo volumes (Edinburgh, 1831'9). During this time Audubon continued the collection of material in the United States, and, although sea voyages were misery to him, made several trips to England, where he wrote much of the text or his work.

 Rose-Breasted Grosbeak 

On two of these journeys his wife accompanied him, and she frequently traveled with him while he obtained subscribers. In 1840 he left England for the last time, and thenceforward lived with his two sons and their families at his house on Hudson river. The place, which he named Minnies land, is now within the New York city limits, in what is known as "Audubon Park." From 1840 to 1844 he was occupied with the publication of a smaller edition of his work, which was completed in seven octavo volumes. The classification of the matter in this edition adds to its scientific value. In the folio edition the method of publication of course prevented any attempt at orderly arrangement, and the only effort had been to make the numbers uniform in interest. Before the publication of the last volume of the "Birds." Audubon had projected a similar work on the " Quadrupeds of America," and with the help of his sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, and of Rev. John Bachman, of Charleston, S. C., had gathered much material. He had planned an extensive trip to the Rocky Mountains in pursuance of his design, bug was persuaded by his friends to give it up, as he was now an old man.

His sons did much of the work on the “Quadrupeds of America”. A large number of the animals were secured and painted by John, while nearly all the landscapes are the work of Victor. The first volume was issued in 1846, and the last in 1854, after Audubon's death, under the superintendence of his son John. After he had reached his sixty-seventh year Audubon's mind began to weaken, and during the last four years of his life he was able to do little work. He was buried in Trinity church cemetery, which adjoined his property. His son, John Woodhouse, died 21 Feb., 1862, while preparing a third edition of the " Birds of America." Mrs. Audubon survived her husband many years, and prepared from his diary a biography, which was published in New York in 1868. Mrs. Audubon died at the home of her sister-in-law, in Shelbyville, Ky., 19 June 1874.

Audubon was a man of fine personal appearance. He seems to have been attached to his family, and to have been happy in his home, yet he chafed under the confinement of domestic life, and longed to be continually in the woods. After the recognition of his genius, honors were showered upon him. At the time of his death he was a fellow of the Linnaean and zoological societies of London, of the natural history society of Paris, of the Wernerian society of Edinburgh, of the lyceum of natural history of New York, and an honorary member of the society of natural history at Manchester, of tile royal Scottish academy of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and of many other scientific bodies. See, besides works already mentioned, Dunlap's "History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design" (New York, 1834); Griswold's " Prose Writers of America" (Philadelphia, 1847); Mrs. Horace St. John's "Audubon, the Naturalist, in the New World" (New York, 1856) ; Samuel Smiles's "Brief Biographies" (Boston, 1861); and Rev. C. C. Adams's " Journal of the Life and Labors of J. J. Audubon."

AUDUBON, John James. Autograph letter signed John J. Audubon"), to "my dear children," Edinburgh, 6 December 1834. One page, 4to, closely written, neatly backed, otherwise in fine condition.

"I HAVE MUCH TO DO IN THE WAY OF DRAWING AND WRITING THE WHOLE OF THIS WINTER..." A typically exuberant Audubon is elated at the publication of a new volume of his Ornithological Biography (vol.2, 1834), descriptive text to accompany the Birds of America: "I revised the introduction last evening with [William] MacGillevray, therefore the book you may conclude is nearly out! We think that by Tuesday next it will be before the readers here; at least some copies of it. Charles Black and father will be agents here on the same terms as before, but I will leave only 200 copies with them, 20 with Hill and will send a proportional number to our agents All the rest I shall ship by steamer to Havell...." He is sending "by the Royal William steamer one new box containing 352 bird skins, which take great care of my journals, sundry books, 55 original small drawings including several of eggs 18 middle size (2 wanting) and 20 large ones [watercolors], drawing paper etc. etc...." The date of his return has not been set, and he regrets that he will not be able to visit a certain Mr. G., but I have much to do in the way of drawing and writing the whole of this winter...."

Audubon had begun his ambitious project in 1826, working with British print makers and ornithologists including the Scottish ornithologist MacGillivray and the father and son engravers, Robert Havell and Robert Havell, Jr. The first part of the monumental Birds of America was issued in 1827; the last completed in 1838. During this period Audubon traveled frequently between England and America, seeking subscribers, searching for new species and overseeing the production of his elephant folio color-plates. At the same time he wrote and edited the accompanying descriptive text, the Ornithological Biography (5 vols., Edinburgh, 1831-1839).

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