Date of Printing: 1801 • Medium: Copperplate Engraving (hand colored) • Subject Category: Natural History - Birds • Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Romantic (1800 - 1899) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 32 x 24 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 42 x 32 • Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Excellent, with minor specs and spotting • Edition Type: 1st Edition - Limited • Paper Type: Woven • Framed: Print only
A wonderful copperplate, carefully and beautifully hand-coloured engraving of a bird of paradise, Le Nébuleux étalant ses parures, plate no. 16, from "Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux de paradis et des Rolliers", published by Jacques Barraband and François Levaillant (original illustration in watercolor). Condition is Exellent, with som minor spotting and age toning in image. Please see photos.
Jacques Barraband (or Pierre-Paul Barraband) (1767? (baptized 1768), Aubusson (Creuse), France–1 October 1809, Lyon) was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his lifelike renderings of tropical birds. His pictures were based on mounted specimens and his illustration was considered the most accurate ones made during the early 1800s.
François Levaillant (later in life as Le Vaillant, "The Valiant") (6 August 1753 – 22 November 1824) was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on collection he made in Africa and several birds are named after him. He was among the first to use colour plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the bateleur (meaning "tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle.