The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

The Creole cottage of John James Audubon, by Folk artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins

The Creole cottage of John James Audubon a painting I did for a local show in a French Quarter gallery that carries my paintings was done almost last minute. I was told months in advance by the Gallery owner to put aside some of my period room interior paintings for the October show. Then a little less then a month before the show I was called and told that the October show had a bird theme. She said I don't like to tell Artist what to paint but! I thought why not incorporate birds into my interior paintings. By painting the New Orleans Gallery/Living space of the greatest Bird painter in the World, That just happen to live in New Orleans French Quarter. This is how the painting "The Creole cottage of John James Audubon" came about. 

The first place Audubon rented in New Orleans French Quarter was a Creole Cottage owned by a free woman of color on Barrack street. It was not clear if he rented the whole cottage or half of it. The space came with a wisher woman/housekeeper.

Audubon rented a Creole Cottage located at 509 Dauphine street for $17 a month

Incorporating Audubon into my interior painting had been something I wanted to do for some time. So when I got the call from the Gallery owner I knew just what to paint. When you live in New Orleans Louisiana  and are a Historical Folk artist, history painting incorporating local famous persons is endless as Louisiana's rich history is so rich,different and colorful from the rest of America. 

What people don't know is I don't just paint a painting I do a lot of research for all of my painting most of the time before I pick up a paint brush. This was the same with the Audubon painting. Audubon kelp a daily journal  that he wrote in almost every day. To get a better ideal of what his living space might have looked like I read his New Orleans years 1820-1822. During this time Audubon lived in three locations in the French Quarter. 

Audubon rented a Creole Cottage located at 509 Dauphine street for $17 a month

John James Audubon (Jean-Jacques Audubon) (April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. His major work, a color-plate book entitled The Birds of America (1827–1839), is considered one of the finest ornithological works ever completed. Audubon identified 25 new species.

Audubon rented a Creole Cottage located at 509 Dauphine street for $17 a month

On October 12, 1820, Audubon started into Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in search of ornithological specimens. He traveled with George Lehman, a professional Swiss landscape artist. The following summer, he moved upriver to the Oakley Plantation in the Felicianas, where he taught drawing to Eliza Pirrie, the young daughter of the owners. Though low paying, the job was ideal, as it afforded him much time to roam and paint in the woods. (Located at 11788 Highway 965, between Jackson and St. Francisville, the plantation is now the Audubon State Historic Site.) Audubon called his future work Birds of America. He attempted to paint one page each day. Painting with newly discovered technique, he decided his earlier works were inferior and re-did them. He hired hunters to gather specimens for him. Audubon realized the ambitious project would take him away from his family for months at a time.

John James Audubon Self Portrait. This is close to what Audubon looked like when he was in New Orleans

Audubon moved to France as a boy due to the rising unrest in Saint-Domingue from African slaves. As a young man living in France Audubon grew up to be a handsome and gregarious man. He played flute and violin, and learned to ride, fence, and dance. A great walker, he loved roaming in the woods, often returning with natural curiosities, including birds' eggs and nests, of which he made crude drawings.

American naturalist and ornithologist John James Audubon (1785-1851)

Audubon by John Syme, 1826

Audubon sometimes used his drawing talent to trade for goods or sell small works to raise cash. He made charcoal portraits on demand at $5 each and gave drawing lessons. In 1823 Audubon took lessons in oil painting technique from John Steen, a teacher of American landscape, and history painter Thomas Cole. Though he did not use oils much for his bird work, Audubon earned good money painting oil portraits for patrons along the Mississippi. (Audubon's account reveals that he learned oil painting in December 1822 from Jacob Stein, an itinerant portrait artist, and after they had enjoyed all the portrait patronage to be expected in Natchez, Mississippi during January–March 1823, they resolved to travel together as perambulating portrait-artists.)

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

After reading Audubon's journal to get a since of what his living space might have looked like. It was hard to come up with a ideal of what his living spaces might have looked like as he talked about birds 90% of the time. Audubon live and had his studio in 3 different places in the French Quarter. The first place Audubon rented was a Creole Cottage owned by a free woman of color on Barrack street. It was not clear if he rented the whole cottage or half of it. The space came with a wisher woman/housekeeper. It was also not clear if this space was furnished or not but it might have been. Audubon did not get along with his landlord the Free woman of color. IN June of 1821 Audubon and his pupil assistant, John Mason left New Orleans and traveled upriver to the Puritan influence region of St. Francisville to take a job at Oakley Plantation. 

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

Audubon wore typical frontier clothes and moccasins "and a ball pouch, a buffalo horn filled with gunpowder, a butcher knife, and a tomahawk on his belt.

 Audubon had great respect for Native Americans: "Whenever I meet Indians, I feel the greatness of our Creator in all its splendor, for there I see the man naked from His hand and yet free from acquired sorrow." Audubon also admired the skill of Kentucky riflemen and the "regulators", citizen lawmen who created a kind of justice on the Kentucky frontier. In his travel notes, he claims to have encountered Daniel Boone.

Gyrfalcon , Falco rusticolus, hand-colored engraving

American Flamingo

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

Arriving at Oakley Plantation on June 18, 1821, the young aspiring naturalist John James Audubon wrote: "The rich magnolias covered with fragrant blossoms, the holly, the beech, the tall yellow poplar, the hilly ground and even the red clay, all excited my admiration." Audubon's stay at Oakley lasted only four months, but he painted 32 of his famous bird pictures here and developed a love for the beautiful West Feliciana Parish. Mrs. Lucy Pirrie brought the young Audubon to Oakley as a tutor for her daughter, Eliza. The arrangement required that Audubon spend half his time teaching drawing to Eliza, but he was otherwise free to roam the woods and work on his naturalistic paintings. For this Audubon was to receive 60 dollars a month plus room and board for himself and his 13-year-old pupil assistant, John Mason. His teacher-artist arrangement was short-lived due to a misunderstanding with Mrs. Pirrie. Only four months after his arrival, Audubon returned to New Orleans.

A graceful emblem of plantation society in the Americas, the Campeche chair is characterized by a lateral nonfolding curule base and a reclining back and seat made of embossed leather.

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

Upon his return Audubon rented a "chamber garnie" Furnish room on Rue Saint Ann No 29 for $16 a month. Within a month or two Audubon's wife and boys were arriving in New Orleans and he rented a Creole Cottage located at 509 Dauphine street for $17 a month. Audubon made good money in New Orleans as a artist. He charged $2 a hour for drawing lessons, The higest in New Orleans at the time and charcoal portraits on demand at $5 each also the highest priced in the city. Audubon talked about other artist in the city of New Orleans not liking him.  Audubon was a Creole from Haiti but he told local Creoles that he was born on a plantation near Mandeville to mask his illegitimate birth.

A American Federal armchair 

Fancy painted drapery cornice 

 Drapery cornice over the window is also painted and gilded with a Neoclassical patterned painted on it

 Drapery cornice over the window is also painted and gilded with a Neoclassical patterned painted on it

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

My painting "The Creole Cottage of John James Audubon" Shows the most famous last home and studio of Audubon. The early 19th century Creole Cottage located at 509 Dauphine street in the French Quarter. This Cottage is still standing and is a high end hotel now. In this cottage Audubon talks about getting it ready for his wife and children. Audubon does not go into detail about the furnishings of this house but he did compare his earlier humble lodging with the fine furnishings at Oakley plantation. He said that most of his furniture was painted compared to the fine polished Mahogany of Oakley plantation. He was talking about the first cottage he rented that might have already been furnished. Because we really don't know how Audubon's studio/home was furnished I have to guess and use with little clues I have to go on. The Dauphine street house would have been different because he was getting it ready for his family.

18th century bird cage 

Painted end table 

Baltimore fancy painted card table 

New Your Federal sofa

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

 I think much of the furnishing for the Dauphine street cottage would have been bought by Audubon second had and would have been 20 plus years old. Most of the art and decoration would have been done by Audubon himself to save money and to show off his talent. Over the sofa we have Thomas Sully gilt framed watercolors of Audubon's birds. The most famous being the American Flamingo. Over the watercolors mounted on the wall is a large sea Tortoiseshell and two taxidermy ducks. Audubon learn modern taxidermy from Charles-Marie D'Orbigny in France in 1805. Charles-Marie improved Audubon's taxidermy skills and taught him scientific methods of research. Scattered around the room are taxidermy birds under glass domes as well as live birds in cages. The plaster walls of this room is painted indigo blue a popular color made from Louisiana's indigo industry. The only up to date piece of furniture in the room is the Federal sofa New York circa 1820 flanked by a pair of early 19th century painted fancy end tables, one holding a goldfish bowl. The drapery cornice over the window is also painted and gilded with a Neoclassical patterned painted on it.  One of the finest pieces of furniture in the room would be the American Federal satin wood and mahogany Secretary Desk Bookcase circa 1800.  Under the window is a mahogany American Federal card table with eagle support circa 1805. On the sisal woven rug we have a 18th century Creole walnut Cabriole leg table with Hurricane globe, brass candlestick, playing cards, green glass wine bottle, wine glass and clay pipe on the table top. A red leather 18th century Campeche chair. A graceful emblem of plantation society in the Americas, the Campeche chair is characterized by a lateral nonfolding curule base and a reclining back and seat made of embossed leather. And a early 19th century red leather American Federal arm chair. The mixture of American East Coast Federal furniture with local French Creole furnishings would have appealed to his Anglo-Sexton and Creole clients.   

Detail of The Creole cottage of John James Audubon

The Creole cottage of John James Audubon SOLD 

Audubon died in New York on January 27, 1851, at sixty-six years of age. 

Today he is, after La Fayette, the best known Frenchman in the United States, and his portrait hangs in the White House. A symbol of American ecology, he gave his name to one of the most important nature conservancy organisations in the USA, "The Audubon Society." Created in 1886, the society is headquartered in the heart of Manhattan and has more than 500,000 members.