John James Audubon Book

John James Audubon (1785-1851) is known throughout the world for the power and beauty of his illustrations of American wildlife, especially the superb colored engravings published in his multivolume The Birds of America. Few people, however, know the fascinating story of this flamboyant artist's life as a frontier naturalist, or have seen the splendid original watercolors from which his engravings were made. Audubon drew most of these beautiful works directly from life during his travels through the North American countryside and wilderness. These images have long been noted for their scientific accuracy, and for the artist's remarkable ability to bring their subjects to life with active poses and naturalistic settings. Lavishly illustrated with more than one hundred full-page colorplates of Audubon's watercolors and oil paintings, this handsome volume documents the life and personality of this impassioned observer of the natural world.