John Woodhouse Audubon

John Woodhouse Audubon; drawing after a miniature byF. Cruickshank

John Woodhouse Audubon (November 30, 1812 – February 21, 1862) was an American painter who was the second son of the ornithologist and painter John James Audubon. Like his father, he was primarily a painter of wildlife, but he also did some portraits and genre scenes of the westward migration.

Biography He grew up in Kentucky, Ohio and Louisiana, where he attended a school taught by his mother, Lucy. At an early age, he joined his father in his scientific pursuits, becoming an active traveler and gatherer of specimens. In 1833, they traveled to Labrador, after which his father wrote that "John has drawn a few Birds, as good as any I ever made, and in a few months I hope to give this department of my duty up to him altogether".

The following year, the family was in London. Both John and his brother, Victor Gifford Audubon (1809–1860) studied painting and made copies of works. The year 1837 saw collecting expeditions in Florida and Texas; the latter conducted from a navy cutter that had been assigned to them by President Andrew Jackson. From 1839 to 1843, he was responsible for producing an octavo edition of The Birds of America, with an additional 65 plates (bringing the total to 500), reduced by means of the camera lucida and otherwise reworked. He spent seven months in California, but most of his watercolors were lost in transit when he shipped them to New York. Thirty-four unfinished sketches have been preserved at the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles.