George P. A. Healy: John James Audubon

"John James Audubon" by George Healy

"When I was in London as a very young man in 1838, the great naturalist Audubon visited the British metropolis. He was a very simple man, a little rough in appearance, with long shaggy black hair, and the most piercing eyes I ever saw - real eagle eyes.

I called upon him and asked him to sit to me. He assured me that though he was greatly flattered, he could not possibly spare the time. He had come to London to bring out his big book on birds, and was too much absorbed by this work to think of sitting. Then, as he was a kindly man, he added: 'I have but my evenings to offer you.' Doubtless he thought to escape me in that way. But artists are persevering. I am peculiarly so. 'The very thing, my dear sir! I shall make an original portrait by gaslight!' The great man was caught, and graciously accepted his defeat.

I painted him in the costume he wore when he went in search of his birds - a sort of backwoodsman's dress. In the course of conversation Audubon discovered that I was in love with a young English girl, and he became at once very friendly and communicative, assuring me that a good marriage was the only real happiness one could hope for in life. He found me a willing listener, and easily convinced of the truth he so eloquently preached.

I took the portrait to America with me some years after I painted it, and it is now the property of the Boston Ornithological Society."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Reminiscences of a Portrait Painter" by George Healy.)