John James Audubon

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Born Jean Rabin, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter.

He was known for his extensive studies describing all species of American birds as well as his detailed illustrations depicting the birds in their natural habitats.

The Birds of America (1827–1839), his principal ornithological work ever produced, is listed as one of the finest ornithological works ever created.

Audubon has discovered 25 new species.

Early life

Audubon was born in Les Cayes, Haiti's French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), on the sugarcane plantation of his father. He was the son of Lieutenant Jean Audubon, a French naval officer (and privateer) from Brittany's south, and Jeanne Rabine, a 27-year-old chambermaid from Les Touches, Brittany (now in the modern region Pays de la Loire). Jean Rabin was the name given to him by his parents. According to another 1887 biographer, his mother was a woman from a Louisiana plantation. His mother died when she first arrived on the island, just a few months old, because she had been suffering from tropical disease since arriving there. His father had an unknown number of mixed-race children (among them a daughter named Marie-Madeleine), some by his mixed-race housekeeper, Catherine "Sanitte" Bouffard (described as a quadroon, meaning she was three-quarters European in origins). Audubon reconnected with Sanitte Bouffard and had a daughter named Muguet following Jeanne Rabin's death. Jean, a newborn, was also taken care of by Bouffard.

The senior Audubon had commanded ships. He had been detained by Britain during the American Revolution. He helped the American cause after his release. With real estate, he had long sought to save money and ensure his family's future. In 1789, he sold part of his plantation in Saint-Domingue and purchased a 284-acre farm called Mill Grove, 20 miles from Philadelphia, to diversify his investments due to slave revolt in the Caribbean. The tension between the colonists and the African slaves, who were largely outnumbered, compelled Jean Audubon to return to France, where he became a member of the Republican Guard. He ordered Jean to be sent to France in 1788, but Muget was transported to France in 1791.

The children were raised in Couron, France, by Audubon and his French wife Anne Moynet Audubon, who had married years before he arrived in Saint-Domingue. Both the children were officially adopted in 1794 in France to have legal status. Jean-Jacques Fougère Audubon and the child Rose were renamed by them.

Audubon had a penchant for birds from the beginnings. "I felt an attachment with them—bordering on madness [that] must accompany my steps through life." His father sparked his interest in nature: he was nourished by nature's pursuit.

The younger Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man in France during the years of the French Revolution and its aftermath. He played flute and violin as well as learned to ride, fence, and dance. A loved wandering in the woods, often returning to natural curiosities, including birds' eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings. His father wanted to make a seaman of his son. Audubon, a twelve-year-old boy, went to military school and became a cabin boy. He quickly discovered that he was allergic to seasickness and not fond of computers or navigation. Audubon's incipient naval career came after failing the officer's qualification exam. He returned to hunting fields again, this time focusing on birds.

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Early ornithological career

Audubon served as the first paid employee of the Western History Society, now known as The Museum of Natural History at The Cincinnati Museum Center for a Short Time. Joseph Mason, a former soldier who served with him from October 1820 to August 1822 and painted the plant life backgrounds of many of Audubon's birds, moved south on the Mississippi. For eventual publication, he was determined to locate and paint all the birds of North America. His aim was to surpass poet-naturalist Alexander Wilson's earlier ornithological works. Though he wasn't able to afford Wilson's work, Audubon used it to guide him when he had access to a copy.

Rafinesque, an 1818 scholar, traveled to Ohio and the Ohio River valley to learn fishes, and he was a visitor of Audubon. Rafinesque discovered a bat in his room and thought it was a new species in middle of the night. In an attempt to knock the bat down, he grabbed Audubon's favorite violin, resulting in the violin's destruction. According to Rafinesque, Audubon retaliated by showing drawings and describing some fictitious fishes and rodents; Rafinesque gave scientific names to several of these fishes; in his Ichthyologia Ohiensis, Rafinesque gave scientific names to several of these fishes.

Audubon went to Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida on October 12, 1820, in search of ornithological specimens. He traveled with George Lehman, a Swiss landscape artist, on tour. He returned from Eliza Pirrie, the owners' teenage daughter, to the Oakley Plantation in Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, where he taught drawing to Eliza Pirrie, the following summer. Despite being low-paying, the position was still a good idea, since it gave him ample time to wander and paint in the woods. (The plantation has been preserved as the Audubon State Historic Site) and is located between Jackson and St. 11788 Highway 965. (Frenchtown) Francisville.)

The Birds of America, Audubon's future work, is a film about birds of America. He attempted to paint a single page a day. He figured his earlier works were inferior and re-did them with a newly discovered technique. He employed hunters to gather specimens for him. Audubon was aware that the ambitious plan would take him away from his family for months at a time.

Audubon would sometimes sell products or sell small works to raise funds. He made charcoal portraits on demand at $5 each and taught drawing lessons. Audubon took lessons in oil painting technique from John Steen, a American landscape historian and historian Thomas Cole in 1823. Despite the fact that Audubon did not use oils much for his bird art, the Mississippi also earned good money painting oil portraits for patrons. (Audubon's biography reveals that he learned oil painting from Jacob Stein, an itinerant portrait artist. They decided to travel together as perambulating portrait artists after enjoying all of the portrait patronage in Natchez, Mississippi, from January to March 1823. Audubon served as an instructor at Jefferson College in Washington, Mississippi, from 1822 to 1823.

Lucy became the family's regular breadwinner with two young children. She was educated as a tutor and taught children in their homes. She was later hired as a Louisiana teacher as a local tutor. As was often the case, she boarded with their children at the home of a wealthy plantation owner.

Audubon found a publisher for his bird drawings in Philadelphia in 1824. He learned oil painting from Thomas Sully and met Charles Bonaparte, who adored his art and suggested he come to Europe to have his bird drawings engraved. On July 27, 1824, Audubon was nominated for membership in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Reuben Haines, and Isaiah Lukens. However, he failed to gain enough funds and his nomination was refused by a vote on August 31, 1824, as Alexander Lawson and others warned of scientific misconduct at the same time.

Later career

In 1829, Audubon returned to America to complete further drawings for his magnum opus. He also hunted animals and sent the valuable skins to British friends. He and his family were reunited. Lucy accompanied him back to England after settling business matters. Audubon discovered that during his absence, he had lost some subscribers due to the plates' uneven color. Others were behind on their payments. The plates were set by his engraver, and Audubon reassured customers, but a few refused to pay, but a few were hesitant. "The Birds of America will then appreciate as much as they are now depreciated by certain fools and envious individuals," he said. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Sciences in 1830 and to the American Philosophical Society in 1831.

Ornithological Biographies is a book that recounts The Birds of America. This was a collection of life histories of each species compiled by Scottish ornithologist William MacGillivray. Both books were published separately to avoid a British rule that allowed copies of all publications with text to be deposited in copyright libraries, which was a major financial burden for the self-published Audubon. Both books were published between 1827 and 1839.

Audubon began explorers in North America in the 1830s. "Mr. Audubon is the most energized and indefatigable man I ever knew" on a trip to Key West, according to a newspaper column "he woke up every morning at 3 o'clock and went out at 1 o'clock." Then would draw the remainder of the day before returning to the field in the evening in the evening, which was a routine he maintained for weeks and months. The Life of John James Audubon The Naturalist, a posthumously published book that was primarily based on his notes, Audubon's trip to the northeastern Florida coastal sugar plantation of John Joachim Bulow, 1831–early January 1832, was published in the posthumously published book The Life of John James Audubon. It was started by his father and at 4,675 acres, it was the first one in East Florida. Bulow had a sugar mill built there under the direction of a Scottish engineer who accompanied Audubon on a tour of the area. In the Seminole Wars, the mill was destroyed in 1836. Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park has been conserved today.

Audubon booked passage on the schooner Agnes' route to Charleston, South Carolina, in March 1832. A gale forced the vessel to berth at the mouth of the Savannah River, where an engineer of the United States Army Corps of Engineers on Cockspur Island, where Fort Pulaski was under construction, moved Audubon upstream to Savannah, Georgia. As he was about to board a Charleston-bound stage coach, William Gaston, a Savannah resident who had once befriended him, was remembered. Audubon stayed at the City Hotel, but the next day, they sought out and discovered the acquaintance, "who displayed only modest enthusiasm for his Birds of America" and who doubted that a single copy would be sold in the city. A dejected Audubon continued to chat with the merchant and a mutual friend who had no longer appeared by chance. The merchant, who had further considered his position, said, "I subscribe to your work" after receiving $200 for the first volume and promising to act as his agent in finding new subscriptions.

Audubon and five other young colleagues traveled north from Maine in 1833 to investigate Labrador's ornithology. Their ship Ripley made a stop at St. George's, Newfoundland, on the return journey. Audubon and his aides identified 36 species of birds.

When staying at Capt's Key West house and gardens, Audubon created a sample of his artwork. John H. Geiger. The Audubon House and Tropical Gardens were preserved here.

Audubon and his family returned to the United States in 1841 after finishing the Ornithological Biographies. In northern Manhattan, he purchased an estate on the Hudson River. (When Audubon's widow started selling parcels of the estate for the construction of free-standing single family homes, the nearly 20-acre estate came to be known as Audubon Park in the 1860s). He published an octavo edition of The Birds of America between 1840 and 1844, with 65 more plates. It was printed in standard size to be more affordable than the oversize British edition and was bought by 1100 subscribers. Audubon spent much time on "subscription-gathering trips" drumming up sales of the octavo edition as he continued to leave his family with a substantial amount of money.

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