Audubon
painter, naturalist, adventurer > June 5, 2004 - December 31, 2005

> Audubon (introduction)
> Painter of birds
> John-James Audubon in the Natural History Museum of Nantes
> Following Audubon in Coueron
> About the exhibit
> Selective bibliography
> Players in the project
> Some views of the exhibition...

"La Gerbetière", his childhood home

The child grew up unhampered in the rugged countryside, a rich, unspoiled environment where birds and animals brought back from the tropics by seafarers frolicked. He drew already, awkwardly, in his own words: "far from discouraging to me, the artist would write later, this disappointment sparked my passion. The worse my birds were drawn and painted, the more I admired the originals.”

From the time he returned from Santo Domingo in 1788 until the early 1800s, John-James Audubon lived in Couëron where his father, a ship’s captain for merchants in Nantes, had acquired the property called "La Gerbetière " before the Revolution. It was there on the hillside in the area of Port-Launay that the Audubon family liked to gather with friends: naval doctors, merchants, and sailors, all passionate about botany and natural history.
Of "La Gerbetière ", Audubon wrote: "my father’s beautiful property had a view of the Loire… I found it delightful… Everything about it seemed superior to me."

Doctor Charles-Marie d' Orbigny, the family doctor, would encourage the teenager as he progressed, opening his mind to the more scientific approach of ornithology, helping him discover the great work of Buffon.

By purchasing this home in June 2003, the Town of Couëron and the urban Community of Nantes make this symbolic place, witness to the vocation of ornithologist and painter of this illustrious son of Couëron, part of the public heritage.
Planche enluminée de l'Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Buffon,
Geai bleu- planche 529

Two exhibitions will be proposed in the garden of "La Gerbetière"

« John-James Audubon and the marsh»
For the discovery of the man and the marsh that bears his name, the true source of inspiration for the young naturalist and the place of his first bird drawings.

« Mosaic»
Catherine Clément, animal sculptor, presents an exhibition of mosaic animals: a work on touch and colour, curious, playful, and original.


Open from June 5 to July 11 Saturdays and Sundays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Activities for school children. Telephone: 02 28 25 85 35
Visit to "La Gerbetière" and discovery of Audubon marsh may be arranged for groups by reservation at 02 28 25 85 35

A discovery-circuit after leaving "La Gerbetière"

Go on to discover Port Launay, childhood village of John-James Audubon, considered to be the outer harbour of Nantes in the 18th century. The shipowners’ houses and dock remind us of the maritime past of this little village.

The Loire has since receded, giving way to a vast wetland currently called the Audubon marsh.

Free circuit, duration: 1 1/2 hours
(Booklet available at la Gerbetière during open hours, in the town hall, at the Theatre Boris Vian, the Natural History Museum of Nantes, and on request by mail from the town hall of Couëron)