Dr. Mitchell, who was the father and first president of the Lyceum of Natural History, had been a friend of young Audubon when he was clerking in New York in 1807.[311] His recommendation was accepted, and the naturalist was enrolled on the Lyceum's list of members; to justify his election, two papers, representing his first contribution to ornithology, were presented to the Society, and appeared in its Annals of that year.[312] Audubon visited the Lyceum with Dr. DeKay and exhibited his drawings, but said that he felt awkward and uncomfortable. On August 3 he called on John Vanderlyn, the artist, examined his pictures, and "saw the medal given him by Napoleon, but was not impressed with the idea that he was a great painter." Upon meeting Vanderlyn again a little later, he was asked to sit for a portrait of Andrew Jackson; his journal entry regarding the incident was as follows:[313]
August 10. My spirits low, and I long for the woods again; but the prospect of becoming better known prompts me to remain another day. Met the artist Vanderlyn, who asked me to give him a sitting for a portrait of General Jackson, since my figure considerably resembled that of the General, more than any he had ever seen. I likewise sketched my landlady and child, and filled my time.
The context shows that the sitting was given, and as Mr. Stanley C. Arthur remarks, Vanderlyn's portrait, which now hangs in the City Hall in New York, shows "Old Hickory" from the shoulders up, but from the shoulders down it is John James Audubon.
On the 14th Audubon wrote cheerfully to Sully:
Audubon to Thomas Sully
My reception in New York has surpassed my hopes. I have been most kindly [received], and had I seen Col. Trumball, I would have found him the gentleman you represented, but his absence at Saratoga Springs has deprived me of that pleasure.
New York is now an immense city. Strangers are received here with less reserve generally than at Philadelphia. I found the Academy well supplied with paintings, and sculptures of the Greek masters. The steam boats of the Sweet Ohio, with all their swiftness of motion and beautiful forms, do not interest the eye like those that are here tossing over the foaming billows with the grace of the wild swan. Were I a painter—ah could I, like ——, carry in my mind's eye all my mind feels when looking at the Battery at the moon's tender reflections on the farthest sails, forcing the vessel they move with the very wind's heart,—express as he does the quick moving tar hauling in a reef at the yard's end,—and make on the canvas a noble commander speak, as you have done; then, my dear friend, I could show you New York's harbor and all its beauties....
I cannot part with that Fair City [Philadelphia] this soon; I cannot help thanking Fairman, Peale, Neagle, Le Sueur, and many others besides Mc Murty for their attentions to me. Should you see honest Quaker Haines, beg him to believe me his friend; should you see Mr. Ord, tell him I never was his enemy. Think of me some time, and accept the truest best wishes of
John J. Audubon.
I leave for Boston tomorrow. Should you please to write to me, direct to Care of Messrs. Anshutz & Co, Pittsburgh, where I shall be in about 40 days.