Shufeldt and Audubon, Audubonia. ^OQ 



THE LAST PORTRAIT OF AUDUBON, TOGETHER 

 WITH A LETTER TO HIS SON. 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT AND MISS M. R. AUDUBON. 



Plate IX. 



It is the celebrated artist Cfuikshank to whom the honor is 

 due for having made the first published portrait of America's 

 well-beloved ornithologist — Audubon. The naturalist at that 

 time was about forty years of age and the picture, now destroyed 

 by fire, was a miniature. Inraan also succeeded in obtaining a 

 fine portrait of him, which is the one that was reproduced in his 

 Biography. His son John secured still another, one of the 

 most valuable now in existence, it being a full-length with his 

 favorite dog at his feet. These three portraits have been 

 published and republished as engravings at various times and in 

 various places, so that they are now well-known to all the many 

 readers of Audubonian literature. A thus far unpublished and 

 another greatly cherished portrait of the naturalist has been 

 described in 'Scribner's Magazine' for July, 1876 (p. 335). 

 This, too, was painted by the fond hand of the same son who 

 painted the full-length picture, to which we have referred above. 

 Finally, by the aid of a mirror, Audubon made a small oil- 

 painting of himself, and this picture has already been repro- 

 duced in the pages of the present magazine, with a description 

 of it. 1 By those who have seen it, and by members of the 

 family, his immediate descendants, this last has been pronounced 

 an excellent likeness. The original is the property of Mrs. 

 E. C. Walker, of Baton Rouge, La., and is the earliest portrait 

 of the naturalist known to us. 



It is now the aim of the authors of the present contribution to 

 bring before the many readers of 'The Auk' what proves to be 

 a portrait of Audubon heretofore not given to the world. In 

 one way, at least, it is of greater value and interest than any of 

 the other portraits extant, — priceless as they really are. The 



''The Auk,' Vol. Ill, No. 4, October, 1886, pp. 417-420. The portrait was 

 awarded the frontispiece. 



