John James Audubon: 5 works

'John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a genius with a flair for self-promotion and a plan to paint, print and publish life-sized illustrations of all the bird species of North America. Garbed in the cape of an American woodsman, Audubon sailed to Liverpool to find sponsors and oversee the production of his ambitious project.'

'John James Audubon worked along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, catching birds in the morning to paint before last light. He has depicted the osprey in the moment of victory, its prey secure in its piercing talons.'

'He thought that this specimen was a cross between two other duck species: the Mallard and the Gadwall.'

'One of the species painted by the great American naturalist John James Audubon (1785-1851), these black-crowned night herons appear in one of the few surviving folios of Audubon's work.'

'John James Audubon was born in 1785 as the illegitimate son of a French sea captain's mistress. He grew up predominantly in France before moving to America at the age of 18, where he became a businessman in Kentucky and Ohio (then considered the Frontier).'