John James Audubon

John James Audubon (1785-1851) is an ornithologist and artist known for his Birds of America collection of life-size prints.

Life[edit]

Audubon was born in Saint Domingue in what later became Haiti and raised in Nantes, France. To avoid serving in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, he moved to America in 1803 and worked as a businessman. In Pennsylvania, he met his wife Lucy Bakewell. He later settled in Kentucky, where he had two sons. In 1819, he was jailed for bankruptcy. Lucy became a tutor for the children of wealthy plantation owners.

Audubon, meanwhile, embarked on his quest to paint, catalog, and kill every bird species in North America. He traveled about the Mississippi Valley and the Western U.S., painting and hunting, and often living off of what he caught. Eventually he traveled to England, where he was known as the American Woodsman, and published his Birds of America collection.

Birds of America[edit]

The final print of Birds of America was published in 1838 with the help of William MacGillivray, a Scottish ornithologist. The work has been noted to mention some species which have become extinct since the time of publication, including the Washington eagle or sea eagle, which may have been seen only by John James Audubon himself.

External links[edit]

• Biography at Biography.com
• John James Audubon: America's Rare Bird, by Richard Rhodes, December 1, 2004.