American, 1785–1851
John James Audubon (1785–1851) was a French-American artist, naturalist, entrepreneur, explorer, and ornithologist. He created a comprehensive pictorial record of North American birds, published as The Birds of America (1827–1838) with accompanying texts. Audubon’s scientific work was significant but controversial, with accusations of fraud, plagiarism, and misconduct, and some species attributed to him were based on questionable or stolen material. He was involved in the buying and selling of enslaved people, exhuming bodies, and trading Native American remains; as of 2025, many regional Audubon societies have changed their names, though the national organization and many places still bear his name.
Sources: Wikipedia (en): John James Audubon · Wikidata Q182882
46 artworks
