1. 1824.—Oil portrait by himself; painted at "Beech Grove," William Garrett Johnson's plantation, West Feliciana, Louisiana; presented by Audubon to Mrs. Johnson; inherited by her daughter and granddaughter, and now in possession of Dr. D. G. Murrell, Paducah, Kentucky. Size of original, 12 by 9 inches. Reproduced in The Auk, vol. iii, 1886 (see Bibliography, No. 184).
2. 1826 (?).—Oil portrait by himself (?), 18 by 32 inches, West Feliciana; presented by Audubon to Col. Edward Durrive's father, later acquired by Mr. E. Curtis, and now in the possession of Mr. Thomas P. Thompson, New Orleans.
My information concerning this doubtful portrait has been derived entirely from Mr. Ruthven Deane, to whom its present owner recently wrote: "My Audubon, by himself, attracts much interest, and grows more real as time makes it familiar."
3. 1826.—Pencil sketch by himself; signed
"Audubon at Green Bank
Almost, Happy!!— Sepr 1826."
Made at the home of Mr. William Rathbone, Sr., and presented to Mrs. Rathbone; now in possession of Mr. Richard R. Rathbone, Glen-y-Menai, Anglesey; for reproduction see The Life and Adventures of John James Audubon, edited by Robert Buchanan, and Maria R. Audubon, Audubon and His Journals.
4. 1826 (?).—Oil portrait by W. H. Holmes, 36 by 28 inches; painted for Audubon's friend, Walter Horton Bentley, Manchester, England, and in possession of the Bentley family ever since. Audubon is represented in a green coat, a crimson cloak with deep fur edging thrown over one shoulder, and with portfolio in hand.
For information concerning this fine but little known portrait, as well as for the photograph reproduced in Vol. I, p. 412, I am indebted to Mr. Ruthven Deane. In 1913, Mr. John Conway Bentley, a grandson of the former owner, formerly of Glasgow, but then living in Cheshire, England, attempted to dispose of the Holmes portrait in this country.
5. 1826.—Oil portrait by John Syme; painted at Edinburgh, November, 1826; supposed to have been engraved by W. H. Lizars, but no trace of painting or engraving has been found. See Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 157 and 165.
On November 27, 1826, Audubon wrote: "At twelve I went to stand up for my picture, and sick enough I was of it by two; at the request of Mr. Lizars I wear my wolf-skin coat, and if the head is not a strong likeness, perhaps the coat may be." In writing to his son, Victor, in 1833 (see Chapter XXVII, p. 57), Audubon said: "I am glad to hear of Kidd & Co.'s publication of Parrots, but I regret that my face should have been there from Syme's picture, which in my estimation is none of the best."
6. 1828.—Oil portrait painted in London by an American artist named Parker, in August, 1828; Parker subsequently accompanied Audubon and Swainson to Paris, where he is said to have executed portraits of Cuvier and Redouté. On August 25, a few days before starting on this journey, Audubon wrote: "Mr. Parker has nearly finished my portrait, which he considers a good one, and so do I" (Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 303). No further mention of this painting has been found.
7. 1830-31.—Miniature painted on ivory by Frederick Cruikshank, probably in London, and before Audubon's return to America on August 2, 1831. This portrait has become well known through the excellent engraving of it by C. Turner, A.R.A., first published in London, "Jany. 12, 1835, for the Proprietor, by Robert Havell, Print-seller, 77, Oxford Street," with Audubon's characteristic autograph. Good copies of the original engraving have become very rare. (See Frontispiece, Vol. I.)
Miss Maria R. Audubon possesses a very faint water-color sketch of the original, which, as she has recently written me, "was destroyed by fire at Shelbyville, Kentucky, with many other rare and valuable belongings of my grandmother's, soon after her death [in 1874]."
8. 1833.—Portrait in oils by Henry Inman; half-length, natural size; in possession of Miss Harriet B. Audubon. "Mr. Inman has painted my Portrait in Oil, and I say that it is a truer portrait of me than even the Miniature" (see Chapter XXVII, p. 39). Engraved by H. B. Hall for the second Octavo Edition of The Birds of America, published in 1856, and the same engraving has appeared in later editions of The Life of John James Audubon, the Naturalist, edited by Lucy Audubon; for reproduction of a photograph of the original portrait, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 206; and for reproduction of the Hall engraving, Vol. II, p. 130, of the present work.
This portrait, like the Cruikshank miniature, has become well known through frequent reproduction; both represent the naturalist at the full meridian of his working powers, and are among the finest likenesses of him extant.
9. 1834.—"John J. Audubon"; portrait drawn and engraved on steel by J. Brown; published by Geo. Henderson, 2, Old Bailey, Ludgate Hill, London, 1834. A poor drawing of Audubon, in hunting dress, published with a biographical sketch, in an English edition of Cuvier's Le régne animal (see Bibliography, No. 56). This drawing served as the basis of a wood engraving, in which Audubon is represented as a much younger man, three-quarters length, gun in hand, with thumb on trigger, which appeared in Gleason's Pictorial for 1852 (see Bibliography, No. 67.).
10. (Before) 1839.—Life Mask, made in London by Robert Havell, Junior, and formerly in his possession; acquired from his daughters, Mrs. Amelia Jane Lockwood and Miss Marion Elington Havell, by Mr. John E. Thayer, and by him presented to Harvard University. For reproduction of the mask, for excellent photographs of which I am indebted to Dr. Samuel Henshaw, Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, Harvard University, see Vol. II, p. 188.
The original was made from a dark colored plaster (?), and has a decidedly coarse texture. Mr. Harry P. Havell, who possesses a replica of the original in wax, writes that he obtained from the Misses Havell, his cousins, the information that this mask was made while Audubon was at their home in London; the matter was treated in a jocular way, as Audubon lay upon a sofa with straws in his nose, while submitting to the rather unpleasant ordeal of having a mold made of his countenance. Mr. Havell, to whom I am indebted for the substance of this note, also possesses the silver loving cup, which Audubon presented to Robert Havell upon the completion of the second volume of his illustrations in 1834 (see Chapter XXXII, p. 192). For notice of another mask by O'Neill, Edinburgh, 1827, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i, p. 205.
11. 1838.—Portrait in oils, three-quarters length, by George P. A. Healy; represents Audubon in hunting shirt, with flowing collar open at neck, knapsack at side and gun in hand (see Frontispiece, Vol. II); painted in London upon the initiative of the artist, still struggling for recognition.
This portrait, with a number of other paintings, was raffled at Boston, at a later day, when it was won by the artist, who then gave it to a former patron, Mr. Bradlee, by whom it was presented to the Boston Society of Natural History, and it now hangs in the library of that institution. The present reproduction is from a photograph received through the kindness of Mr. Ruthven Deane, who still owns the negative, which was reproduced in Mr. Healy's Reminiscences (see Bibliography, No. 197).
12. 1840-45 (?).—Cameo, by John C. King; original intaglio, in shell, a cast of which was given by the artist to Mr. Kennard, and is now in possession of Mr. Frederic H. Kennard, of Boston; cast first reproduced by C. Hart Merriam, in The Auk for 1908 (see Bibliography, No. 226).
Mr. King was a Scotch artist and sculptor, who died at Boston, April 21, 1882.
13. 1841 (?).—Portrait in oils, full length and size, by John Woodhouse Audubon; figure seated, with landscape background; gun resting on arm, and dog at side. For reproduction, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit. This or the following used as the basis of a painting by Alonzo Chappel (see No. 23).
14. 1841 (?).—Half-length portrait in oils, natural size, by John Woodhouse and Victor Gifford Audubon. Original presented to the American Museum of Natural History by Mr. Fordham Morris in 1900; for reproduction, see Vol. II, p. 226.
15. 1841 (?).—Full-length portrait, in oils, by John Woodhouse Audubon; original now in possession of the American Museum of Natural History; for reproduction, see Vol. II, p. 250.
16. 1842.—Pencil sketch by Isaac Sprague (1811-1895), an artist noted for his paintings of plants and birds. Sprague accompanied Audubon on his expedition to the Missouri River in 1843. According to Miss Maria R. Audubon, the original drawing is still in possession of the Sprague family, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts. For reproduction, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit.
17. 1843.—Half-length portrait in oils, by John Woodhouse Audubon, representing the naturalist as he appeared when returning from his expedition to the Missouri River in November, 1843, with flowing white hair and beard; he wears a green overcoat, with fur collar, and with both hands holds a favorite gun. The original, which was never quite finished, is now in possession of his granddaughters, at Salem, New York. For reproduction, see Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. i., frontispiece.
18. 1844.—Cameo by John C. King, now known only from the photograph made from a cast of the original intaglio, which the artist presented to the father of Mr. O. A. Farwell, of Detroit, in 1871.
"My father and Mr. King were great friends, and on one occasion, when father dropped into Mr. King's studio, he found Mr. Audubon sitting for the cameo. Mr. King introduced the two gentlemen and asked them to start a conversation, which was continued during the sitting. The two men became so animated in their very interesting conversation that they forgot where they were, and thus the artist was enabled to catch the natural and striking expression of the great ornithologist." See "The King Cameos of Audubon," by C. Hart Merriam (Bibl. No. 226), who published the first account of this photograph, and of the previously mentioned Kennard cast, with reproductions, in 1908. No trace of the original cameos, which were cut in shell, has yet been found. The Farwell photograph has been reproduced as a medallion on the covers of the present work.
19. 1848-49 (?).—A daguerreotype made by Brady, in New York, probably before 1850, since it was published in that year, and a considerable interval of time is clearly represented between this first camera likeness and the last which was ever made of the naturalist (see No. 20, and Vol. II, p. 280). This daguerreotype was first published as a steel engraving by D'Avignon, in Lester's Gallery of Illustrious Americans (for which it was, in all probability, originally made), in New York, 1850 (see Bibliography, No. 62).
The same sun portrait was again engraved on steel (size 4¼ by 3¼ inches) by Nordheim, and published by Hermann J. Meyer, 164 William Street, New York. It also appeared as a wood engraving, brought out by M. P.-A. Cap, in Le Muséum D'Histoire Naturelle, p. 175, Paris, 1854: a better reproduction, by the same process, was given in Scribner's Magazine, vol. xiii, p. 275 (see "Audubon's Story of his Youth," by Maria R. Audubon, Bibl. No. 40), in 1893.
The original daguerreotype was finally discovered in the collections at the National Museum, at Washington, where it had been deposited by Mrs. Elizabeth Berthoud Grimshaw, a daughter of Mrs. Nicholas Berthoud, and niece of Mrs. Audubon; it was again published by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, and Miss M. R. Audubon, in 1894 (see "The Last Portrait of Audubon," Bibl. No. 196). According to the writers just cited, the daguerreotype was formerly in possession of Mrs. Gordon, a sister of Mrs. J. J. Audubon, who gave it to the present owner.
20. 1850 (?).—A daguerreotype, representing Audubon as he appeared at the close of his career; original in possession of Miss Mary Eliza Audubon; for reproduction see Audubon and his Journals, vol. I, p. 74, and Vol. II, p. 280, of the present work. As to the probable date of this picture, see the preceding notice.
21. 1851.—Death mask; profile from original, since destroyed by fire, reproduced in Scribner's Magazine, vol. xiii, by Maria R. Audubon (Bibl. No. 40), March, 1893.
22. 1851.—Profile of head; pencil sketch, after death, made by John W. Audubon; reproduced by Maria R. Audubon, Audubon and his Journals, vol. ii, p. 526.
23. 1861.—Oil portrait by Alonzo Chappel, engraved on steel for Duyckinck's National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans (see Bibliography, No. 74), and published by Messrs. Johnson, Fry & Company, New York, 1862.
The original of this portrait, which was evidently drawn, with slight changes, from the large painting of the same subject by John Woodhouse Audubon, executed about 1841 (see No. 13), is now in possession of Mr. Ruthven Deane, who has written me that it is done in black and white, like all of Chappel's work which was designed for the purposes of steel engraving, and measures 12 by 17 inches. Concerning this artist, Mr. Arthur Lumley wrote to Mr. Deane on April 26, 1905, as follows: "I knew Chappel in my boyhood days, when he ranked next to Felix O. C. Darley as an illustrator; at the same time he was a good portrait painter in oil. Chappel, in many ways, was a gifted man, and his historical pictures were fine in composition and color. He held a high rank, and had no occasion to seek orders, having all he could do, and at his own terms; most of his work was reproduced by steel-plate engravings": Chappel, he adds, who died about 1875, was "a quiet, genial gentleman who was ever ready to help and guide rising aspirants in the field of art."
24. 1907 (unveiled).—Bust by William Couper; unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, December 29, 1906. Reproduced through courtesy of the Museum, at p. 160 of Vol. II of the present work.
25. 1910 (unveiled).—Statue, by Edward Virginius Valentine; unveiled in Audubon Park, New Orleans, November 26, 1910; reproduced at p. 14 of Vol. I of the present work.