The painter John James died at the age of 65. Here is all you want to know, and more!
Biography - A Short Wiki
French-American artist and ornithologist (birdwatcher) who painted North American birds in great detail. His color-plate book, “The Birds of America,” was highly esteemed long after his death. He discovered and named 25 new species of birds.
He was born on a Haiti sugar plantation and was the illegitimate son of a French Naval officer and a chambermaid. He married Lucy Bakewell in 1808, and the couple had four children.
Quotes
"I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could.
"I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children.
"But Hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns.
"In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests.
"Almost every day, instead of going to school, I made for the fields, where I spent my day.