Julius Bien helped to put the craft of chromo lithography on a solid technical and artistic foundation, and he started the nation down the path of color illustration and a chromo way of life. Within a mere fifteen years the trade would be practiced in nearly every major American city and in many smaller towns as well. Bien was not the only force in the creation of the chromo civilization, but his Audubon work was an early milestone, a sign that the color revolution was at hand.