Black-Footed Ferret
1840/1846
Painter, American, 1812 - 1862
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 55.5 x 68.5 cm (21 7/8 x 26 15/16 in.)
framed: 62.2 x 75.3 x 1.9 cm (24 1/2 x 29 5/8 x 3/4 in.) -
Accession
1951.9.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
The artist [1812-1862]; probably by inheritance to his second wife, Caroline Hall Audubon [1811-1899], Salem, New York; by inheritance to their son, William Bakewell Audubon [1847-1932], Australia; by inheritance to his son, Leonard Benjamin Audubon [1888-1951], Sydney, Australia;[1] sold 1950 to E.J.L. Hallstrom [1886-1970], Sydney, Australia; gift 1951 to NGA.
[1] Handwritten twice in ink on the back of the painting is: "W.B. Audubon." John James Audubon had four children, one of whom was John Woodhouse Audubon [1812-1862]. The younger Audubon married twice; he had two children with his first wife, Maria Bachman [1816-1840], and seven with his second wife, Caroline Hall [1811-1899]. Of the seven, five lived to adulthood, and one of them, William Bakewell Audubon [1847-1932], left the United States for Australia in either 1880 or 1882. He began a new life raising sheep near Yass, a small town about 250 miles west of Sydney. He married Lucy Ann Grovenor in 1885, and they had two children, Leonard Benjamin and Ella Caroline. According to a letter of 9 July 1952 from Ella Caroline Audubon to John Walker (in NGA curatorial files), Audubon paintings were sent to Australia in 1899 or 1900, which would correspond with the death of Caroline Hall Audubon on 1 February 1899. Miss Audubon's letter states that her father arrived in Australia 8 April 1880. However, Walter Audubon gives 21 January 1882 as the date that William Bakewell Audubon sailed for Australia, and he writes also that it was William who "brought with him many paintings by his grandfather, John James Audubon" (see Walter Audubon, Last of the Audubon Line: The Descendants of John Woodhouse Audubon, Franklin, North Carolina, 2002: 72-79).
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1951
Audubon Paintings and Prints from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.
1985
Extended loan for use by Ambassador Thomas Michael Tulliver Niles, U.S. Embassy residence, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1985-1989.
2000
John James Audubon in the West: The Last Expedition, Mammals of North America, Buffalo Bill Hist. Ctr., Cody; Acad. of Nat. Sci., Phil. [not shown]; Houston Mus. of Nat. Sci.; Autry Mus. of Western Heritage, Los Angeles, 2000-2001, unnumb. cat., repro.
2014
Extended loan for use by Secretary Ernest Moniz, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., 2014-2016.
Bibliography
1951
Ford, Alice, ed. Audubon's Animals. New York, 1951: 216.
1970
American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 12, repro.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 21, repro.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 22, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 19-21, color repro.
Inscriptions
on reverse, written twice at right angles, now obscured by lining fabric (photo in NGA curatorial file): W.B. Audubon
Wikidata ID
Q20186596