Audubon, John James (1785–1851)

US naturalist and artist. In 1827, after extensive travels and observations of birds, he published the first part of his Birds of North America, with a remarkable series of colour plates. Later he produced a similar work on North American quadrupeds.

The National Audubon Society (founded 1886) has branches throughout the USA and Canada for the study and protection of birds.

Audubon was born in Santo Domingo (now Haiti) and educated in Paris, emigrating to the USA at 18. He travelled throughout the country collecting and painting the wildlife around him; he also painted portraits and even street signs. By 1825 he had compiled his beautiful set of bird paintings, but US publishers were not interested and he moved to the UK.

Before Audubon most painters of birds used stylized techniques; stuffed birds were often used as subjects. Audubon painted from life and his compositions were startling, his detail minute. The Birds of America was published in Britain in 87 parts 1827–38. On his return to the USA in 1839 he published a bound edition of the plates with additions. He illustrated Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America 1845–48, compiling the text 1846–54 with his sons and John Bachman (1790–1874).