(1785–1851). The first lifelike drawings of birds were done by John James Audubon, who used crayons and watercolors to capture all the North American species known in the early 19th century. Audubon's sketches were so realistic because his models were live or freshly killed birds, rather than museum specimens, and he depicted them in natural positions—often in motion—and added authentic details of their habitats. Some of Audubon's descendants claimed that he was the Lost Dauphin. (Born in the same year as Audubon, the young son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette of France reportedly was found dead in prison during the French Revolution, but many royalists believed that the real prince had been spirited away.) Audubon's own claim for a time was that he was born in New Orleans in 1780. Documents later uncovered have shown, however, that he was born with the last name Rabin on his French father's plantation at Les Cayes, St. Domingue (now Haiti), on April 26, 1785. His Creole mother died soon after his birth, and the child was sent to live near Nantes, France. Adopted by his own father, a naval officer, and his French wife, he was given the name Jean-Jacques Audubon when he was about 9 years old. Obsessed with nature, young Audubon neglected his schoolwork to roam the French countryside—watching animals in the woods, sketching birds, and collecting specimens. In 1803 his father sent him to Mill Grove, his estate near Philadelphia, with the hope that he would become an American businessman. For Audubon it was a “blessed spot, where hunting, fishing, and drawing occupied my every moment.” He made the first American bird-banding experiments there. The girl next door was Lucy Bakewell, whom he married in 1808. The couple moved to Kentucky, and for a decade Audubon tried a variety of occupations—clerk, merchant, miller, and French teacher. His businesses always failed because he deserted them for long periods to follow trails in the woods. Finally, in 1819, he was sent to jail for debt. ‘Birds of America'After his bankruptcy Audubon turned to drawing sidewalk portraits. By 1820 he was traveling by flatboat to New Orleans in pursuit of his dream of making life-size pictures of all the birds of America. On the trip down the Mississippi River he earned some of his traveling expenses by painting a portrait of the boat's captain and his wife. From the Kentucky ventures he had salvaged only his crayons, his gun, and his drawings. Once rats attacked a box containing several hundred of his paintings and completely ruined them, but Audubon redid them all in three years. In New Orleans, in order to spend even more time on his bird studies, Audubon abandoned all traditional means of earning a living. He supported himself by giving lessons in dancing, fencing, and the violin, and for a time he taught in the private school his wife established to provide for their two sons. By 1826 he had an enormous collection of life-size portraits of birds. Unable to find a publisher for his ‘Birds of America' in the United States, he went to England. There he sold enough subscriptions to publish the work over the next dozen years. Although critics pointed out that his drawings were not quite accurate scientifically, subscribers in Great Britain and France were enthusiastic about them. The original ‘Birds of America', which appeared serially, is often called the elephant folio because each page was more than 3 feet (1 meter) long and 2 feet (0.6 meter) wide. The complete edition contained 435 hand-colored plates with 1,065 life-size figures of American birds in characteristic poses and surroundings. At the time the four volumes cost about a thousand dollars. The accompanying text, with descriptions of these birds, was prepared later in collaboration with William MacGillivray, who supplied the more scientific data. ‘Ornithological Biography', published from 1831 to 1839 in a five-volume set, included some of Audubon's stories of life on the American frontier. Audubon's last years were spent on his Hudson River estate (now known as Audubon Park), in what is now New York City. He worked at home on a smaller edition of his masterpiece and, in collaboration with the naturalist John Bachman, began ‘The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America'. He died on Jan. 27, 1851, and the drawings for the work (published 1842–54) were completed by his sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse Audubon. The National Audubon SocietyOne of the oldest conservation organizations in the world, the National Audubon Society was formed in 1905. The society works in cooperation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and it promotes the protection of wildlife, wildlife habitats, plants, soil, water, and forests. Its educational program includes summer ecology camps for teachers and youth leaders, school clubs for children, and the Audubon Expedition Institute for teenagers and adults. The society conducts research programs to aid such endangered species as the bald eagle, whooping crane, eastern timber wolf, and bog turtle. The society supports a force of wardens for its vast wildlife sanctuaries. Publications include an annual Wildlife Report and the bimonthlies American Birds, Audubon, and Audubon Activist. Audubon Adventures is a bimonthly children's newspaper. |