The Oologist. 



VOL. XII. NO. 4. 



ALBION, N. Y., APRIL, 1895. 



Whole No. 114' 



The Last Portrait of Audubon, Together With 

 a Letter to His Son. * 



By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt and Miss M. 

 R. Audubon. 



It is the celebrated artist Cruikshank 

 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. Inman 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 re- 

 published 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 A thus far unpublished and another 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 chei'ished portrait of the natur- 

 alist has been described in Scribner's 

 Magazine for July, 1876 (p. 835). 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 reproduced in the pages of the 

 present magazine, with a description of 

 it. By those who have seen it, and by 

 members of the family, his immediate 

 descendants, this last has been pro- 



* This valuable article and portrait of Audu- 

 bon appeared in The Auk. Vol. XI, No. 4, Octo- 

 ber, 1894, and it's through the kindness of Dr. 

 Shufeldt and the editors of The Auk, that we 

 are enabled to present the same to the readers 

 of the Oologist.— ^d. 



nounced an excellent likeness. The 

 original is the property of Mrs. E. C. 

 Walker, 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 be- 

 fore 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 por- 

 traits extant.— priceless as they really 

 are. The special superiority claimed 

 for it lies in the fact, that it is a camera- 

 portrait, and consequently portrays its- 

 every line true to life. It was not so 

 very long ago when one of the writers 

 of this article discovered in the posses- 

 sion of Professor T. W. Smillie, the 

 well-known photographer of the United 

 States National Museum of Washing- 

 ton, a daguerreotype of Audubon, that 

 belonged to Mrs. Grimshaw, a daugh- 

 ter of Mrs. Nicholas Berthoud, and a 

 niece of Mrs. Audubon's, who had plac- 

 ed the treasure on deposit in the above 

 named institution. Mrs. Grimshaw 

 kindly consented to our having a pho- 

 tographic copy made of this daguerreo- 

 type, which was accomplished through 

 the consumate skill of Professor Smillie, 

 and with the courteous permission of 

 Doctor G. Brown Goode, the distin- 

 guished officer in charge of the Nation- 

 al Museum. From this excellent pho- 

 tograph has been made the admirable 

 plate which illustrates the present pa- 

 per. A picture so fine as this one sure- 

 ly requires no comments on the part of 

 its contributors to The Auk\ it has but 

 to be seen by any of its readers to b^ 

 admired. From all that we have been 

 able to gather, it would seem that this 

 daguerreotype was taken by Brady of 



