John Audubon gave several different accounts of his birth, but the discovery of records in France in the early 1900’s established that he was the son of a French naval captain and a French servant girl who worked for Captain Audubon at his sugar plantation in San Domingo, Haiti. Audubon’s real mother died within a short time after his birth, so Audubon’s father took him back to France as a young child where Captain Audubon and his legal wife adopted him.

To avoid conscription by Napoleon, Captain Audubon sent his son to America to manage property he had purchased near Philadelphia. It was here that Audubon met and married his wife, Lucy Bakewell, whose support was critical in achieving his success. During his early married years he was unsuccessful in business and attained fame as an artist only after many troubled years. Audubon’s genius was recognized after he went to England and subscribers made possible the long publication of his 435 prints (1827-1838). In the 1830’s Audubon also wrote his 5-volume Ornithological Biography, which described the habits of the birds he drew. After completing his folio, Audubon published his small Birds of America between 1840 and 1844. These prints are most prized by collectors today. After being successful with the birds, Audubon undertook to publish the prints of the animals of America, 1845-1848. This proved more difficult than he had anticipated, as many of our animals were nocturnal and their habits were hard to discover.

He was greatly aided by a Lutheran minister in Charleston, South Carolina, Dr. John G. Bachman, whose daughters were the first wives of his two sons, John W. and Victor G. Audubon. In fact, John drew about half of the 150 folio animal plates, and Victor contributed by managing the sales and drawing many of the backgrounds.  An octavo edition was published in 1849. Audubon was known as the American Woodsman. He spent days and weeks in the woods studying birds and animals, and his spectacular drawings remain today as an unmatched achievement by an American artist/naturalist. Interest in Audubon's prints continues to escalate.  Several years ago a single print, Plate 431 - American Flamingo, brought $150,000 at auction, and in 2004 it brought $197,000.  While the top images command high prices, most of Audubon's folio bird prints fall below $10,000.  In 2004 both the Smithsonian and Audubon magazines published cover stories on Audubon.  In 2005 this interest was pushed forward again when the New York Historical Society exhibited fifty of his original watercolors in their gallery in New York. 

The folio quadrupeds have also been at the forefront of American animal art and received much attention in the 2001 four-museum exhibition mounted by the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming.  Over thirty prints from our collection toured the nation with this exhibition.  Some of those exhibited are offered in our quadruped lists.  Finally, a recent biography of Audubon by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Richard Rhodes, adds some new information on his past works.   Audubon’s life reads like fiction.  We have many books by and about Audubon and his works.  Even today he is considered the premier bird artist of all time.