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John James Audubon

Farmyard Fowls, c. 1827

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 71.5 x 104 cm (28 1/8 x 40 15/16 in.)

framed: 78.4 x 110.8 x 2.2 cm (30 7/8 x 43 5/8 x 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of E.J.L. Hallstrom

Accession Number

1951.9.3

Artists / Makers

John James Audubon (artist) American, 1785 - 1851

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower right, first five letters added during 1951 conservation treatment: Audubon

Provenance

The artist [1785-1851]; probably by inheritance to his son, John Woodhouse Audubon [1812-1862], Salem, New York; by inheritance to his second wife, Caroline Hall Audubon [1811-1899], Salem, New York; by inheritance to her son, William Bakewell Audubon [1847-1932], Australia;[1] by inheritance to his son, Leonard Benjamin Audubon [1888-1951], Sydney, Australia; sold 1950 to E.J.L. Hallstrom [1886-1970], Sydney, Australia; gift 1951 to NGA.

[1] The painting was seen in 1895 at the home of Mrs. John Woodhouse Audubon by R.W. Shufeldt ("An Hitherto Unpublished Painting by Audubon," The Wilson Bulletin XXII, no. I [March 1910]: 4-5). A note on the back of the painting that purports to explain the circumstances surrounding its creation is signed by "M.R. 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; Maria Rebecca Audubon [1843-1925], who signed the note on the back of the painting, was one of the daughters, and William Bakewell Audubon [1847-1932] was one of the sons. William left the United States for Australia in either 1880 or 1882, and 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

Audubon, Caroline Hall
Audubon, John James
Audubon, John Woodhouse
Audubon, Leonard Benjamin
Audubon, William Bakewell
Hallstrom, E.J.L.

Exhibition History

1951: Audubon Paintings and Prints from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1951.

1954: [John James Audubon exhibition for the benefit of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine], Kennedy Galleries, New York, 1954.

1961: Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1961-1962.

1985: Extended loan for use by Ambassador Thomas Michael Tulliver Niles, U.S. Embassy residence, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1985-1989.

2004: Art and the Oval Office: Presidential Selections from the Nation's Museums, 1960-2000, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 2004-2005, no cat.

Technical Summary

The support is a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric that was lined, possibly during the 1951 treatment. Tack holes are visible on the right, left, and bottom edges. Over a thin, white ground layer, the paint was rapidly applied in several, often thick layers. Details in the chickens were applied in broad brush strokes with some fairly high impasto to represent the feathers and highlights in the heads and feet. The layering appears to be wet-into-wet as well as wet-over-dry, and glazes were used in the areas of thicker feathers. The painting is in poor condition, probably resulting from environmental conditions and from an unsound technique. X-radiography reveals large areas of loss, particularly at the bottom edge, top center, and right, and in the tail feathers of the chicken on the left. The entire right side suffers from numerous small losses. The dark background appears to have been entirely repainted. The varnish has become severely discolored.

Bibliography

1910: Shufeldt, R. W. "An Hitherto Unpublished Painting by Audubon." Wilson Bulletin 22 (March 1910): 4-5.

1970: American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 10, 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: 14-16, repro.