CHAPTER XII 



EARLY DRAWINGS IN FRANCE AND AMERICA 



Child and man — His ideals, perseverance and progress — Study under David 

 at Paris — David's pupils and studios — David at Nantes arouses the 

 enthusiasm of its citizens — His part in the Revolution — His art and 

 influence over Audubon — Audubon's drawings of French birds — Story 

 of the Edward Harris collection — The Birds of America in the bud — 

 Audubon's originality, style, methods, and mastery of materials and 

 technique — His problem and how he solved it — His artistic defects. 



Audubon began to draw birds and other animals 

 when a child, and, like most children, was ready to be- 

 lieve that his crude sketches were finished pictures if 

 only they possessed some sort of a head, a tail, and sticks 

 in place of legs. But, unlike the majority of youth, he 

 went direct to nature for his subjects, and his "family 

 of cripples" failed to satisfy him long. He gradually 

 developed a high ideal, and at an early age felt stirring 

 within him the impulse and the power to express it. 

 On stated anniversaries his masterpieces, he tells us, 

 were burned, in spite of the praise and flattery they had 

 evoked ; he would then exert all his powers to do better, 

 and this commendable practice was kept up for years. 



In this respect the child was father of the man, for 

 on the 5th of March, 1822, when Audubon was living 

 in New Orleans, too poor to buy even a blank-book for 

 a journal, he thus wrote of his work during the pre- 

 vious months: "Every moment I had to spare I drew 

 birds for my ornithology, in which my Lucy and myself 

 alone have faith. February was spent in drawing birds 



173 



