338 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Dr. Mitchell, who was the father and first president 

 of the Lyceum of Natural History, had been a friend 

 of young Audubon when he was clerking in New York 

 in 1807. 13 His recommendation was accepted, and the 

 naturalist was enrolled on the Lyceum's list of mem- 

 bers; to justify his election, two papers, representing 

 his first contribution to ornithology, were presented to 

 the Society, and appeared in its Annals of that year. 14 

 Audubon visited the Lyceum with Dr. DeKay and ex- 

 hibited his drawings, but said that he felt awkward and 

 uncomfortable. On August 3 he called on John Van- 

 derlyn, the artist, examined his pictures, and "saw the 

 medal given him by Napoleon, but was not impressed 

 with the idea that he was a great painter." Upon 

 meeting Vanderlyn again a little later, he was asked to 

 sit for a portrait of Andrew Jackson; his journal entry 

 regarding the incident was as follows: 15 



August 10. My spirits low, and I long for the woods again ; 

 but the prospect of becoming better known prompts me to 

 remain another day. Met the artist Vanderlyn, who asked me 

 to give him a sitting for a portrait of General Jackson, since 

 my figure considerably resembled that of the General, more than 

 any he had ever seen. I likewise sketched my landlady and 

 child, and filled my time. 



The context shows that the sitting was given, and 

 as Mr. Stanley C. Arthur remarks, Vanderlyn's por- 

 trait, which now hangs in the City Hall in New York, 

 shows "Old Hickory" from the shoulders up, but from 

 the shoulders down it is John James Audubon. 



On the 14th Audubon wrote cheerfully to Sully: 



13 See Chapter XL 



"See Bibliography, Nos. 15 and 16. 



15 See Lucy Audubon, ed., Life of John James Audubon, the Naturalist 

 (Bibl. No. 73), p. 107. 



