382 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



remark that he was too dull and mournful to write a 

 line, and it was not opened again for nearly three months. 

 This gap in Audubon's record can now be filled in 

 reference to some important particulars, for in the in- 

 terval he made his greatest discovery in England, in 

 Robert Havell, Junior, then a young and unknown 

 artist of thirty-four, who through eleven years of the 

 closest association with his new patron was to become 

 one of the greatest engravers in aquatint the world has 

 ever seen. Until recently the intimate story of Audu- 

 bon's relation to the Havells has been much obscured. 4 

 The reference in the journal record of June 19, just 

 given, was undoubtedly to Robert Havell, Senior, who 

 for many years was associated with his father, Daniel 

 Havell, the first of five generations of artists of that 

 name, in the engraving and publishing business, but 

 who at this time w r as established independently at 79 

 Newman Street, London; he also conducted a shop 

 called the "Zoological Gallery," at which were sold en- 

 gravings, books, artists' materials, naturalists' supplies, 

 and specimens of natural history of every sort. His 

 three sons, Robert, George, and Henry Augustus, all 

 became artists, but the eldest, who bore his father's 

 name, was educated for a learned profession. Contrary 

 to his father's injunctions and advice, Robert, who was 

 bent on becoming an artist, abruptly left his home in 

 1825, determined to shift for himself. He began with 

 an extensive sketching tour on the River Wye, in Mon- 

 mouthshire, and produced numerous paintings which, 



4 In the account which follows, as well as in numerous instances in 

 Chapter XXXII, I am most indebted to George Alfred Williams, who 

 in "Robert Havell, Junior, Engraver of Audubon's The Birds of America," 

 (Bibl. No. 232) (Print-Collectors Quarterly, vol. vi, no. 3, pp. 225-259, 

 Boston, 1916), has given the only satisfactory account of the Havell family 

 and the best analysis of the work of the great engraver. 



