Panorama of Natchez, Mississippi

Audubon spent the years 1822 and 1823 in Natchez and supported himself by painting, perhaps working in oils for the first time. This romantic, bucolic view shows Natchez on the bluffs high above the river. Antebellum Natchez was a city of palatial town houses and suburban villas designed and furnished in the most fashionable styles. It was dominated by the elite of planters, many of whom were actually doctors, lawyers, and merchants from the Northeast who bought plantations in Louisiana and northern Mississippi and amassed fortunes from the sale of sugar and cotton. Among the town's many Greek revival buildings was Clifton, the white mansion in the left background. A Union officer quartered there in 1863 wrote that the owner had spared no expense "and all that could minister to taste and luxury and comfort have been collected here."