Barbara Campanella, age 15, of Birmingham, Ala., for her question:
HOW MANY BIRD PAINTINGS DID AUDUBON COMPLETE FOR HIS BOOK?
John James Audubon was an American naturalist, ornithologist and artist, noted for his realistic portrayals of American wildlife, and in whose honor the National Audubon society was formed. Audubon's book consists of 435 hand colored folio plates depicting 1,065 birds life size.
In about 1820 Audubon decided to make the painting of American birds his lifework.
By 1826 he had enough drawings to go to England to seek a publisher. Exhibitions of his drawings in Liverpool and Edinburgh were successful and in 1827 he began the publication of his masterpiece, "The Birds of America."
In 1831 Audubon, with the Scottish naturalist William MacGillivary, began to write a companion volume, "The Ornithological Biography," describing the characters and habits of the birds he had painted. There were five volumes of text.
Between 1840 and 1844 the two books were combined and published as seven octavo volumes, with the drawings reduced in size. The new publication was also called "The Birds of America." Of the original folio edition, it is estimated that only 175 sets are still in existence.
Audubon was born on April 26, 1785 in Les Cayes, Santo Domingo (row Haiti), the son of a French naval officer who has served in the American Revolution. In 1789 his father took him to France, where he attended a military school and then studied drawing under the neoclassical painter Jacques Louis David.
At the age of 18 Audubon returned to America and settled on a farm near Philadelphia. He devoted himself to a study of natural history, especially to making drawings of American birds. In 1808 he established a general store in Louisville, Ky., and later another in Henderson, Ky. Neither venture was successful. But during this period he continued to draw birds.
In 1841 Audubon settled on a rural estate, which is now Audubon Park, on the Hudson River in New York City. In collaboration with his sons and with the naturalist John Bachman, Audubon began in 1840 the preparation of "The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America," containing 150 folio plates, which was completed and published after his death in 1851 .
The National Audubon Society is one of the oldest and largest conservation organizations in North America. It has about 300 chapters and affiliated clubs.
The society was founded in 1905 and named for John James Audubon. The major purpose of the society is to advance public understanding of the value and need for conservation of soil, water, plants and wildlife.
Wardens of the society patrol more than 1 million acres of land and water in the United States to protect birds.