The Volumes:
This image originates from the famous work Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, Suivie de Celle des Toucans et des Barbus (Natural History of Birds of Paradise and Rollers: followed by Toucans and Barbets), with engraved plates after master Jacques Barraband, authored by famed French naturalist Francois Levaillant.
Levaillant's spectacular volumes on exotic birds were & remain (until, some say, Gould), the unparalleled and most magnificent ornithological works (Fine Bird Books).
The superb plates, engraved after Barraband, effortlessly capture the striking, unique characteristics and rich coloring of each exotic bird species, featuring 24 Birds of Paradise; 15 Rollers; 17 Jays; 18 Toucans, 24 Barbets, 5 Tamatias, 3 Barbacous; and 8 Jacamars.
These projects transpired after Levaillant returned to France following extensive travels through Africa. Barraband provided the illustrations for Levaillant’s six-volume Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (1796–1808); he outdid himself with this one, & with the famous illustrations of parrot species for Histoire naturelle des perroquets, which were celebrated by contemporaries as the most lifelike renderings of birds ever made.
Their strong three-dimensional quality was achieved not only through accurate drawing, but also through the combination of color printing À la poupée and further additions of color and shading, done by hand in watercolor. (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
An exquisitely illustrated bird book, widely considered among the most beautiful of its kind—one of the glories of Napoleonic Science.
“After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon’s policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken to the orders of Louis XIV.
"These were sent as presents to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire. In this manner many glorious books came into being, and it is in this light that we should see Redouté’s Les Liliacées and his two works on the flowers of La Malmaison. The works of Levaillant owe their sumptuous character to the same impetus.” (Fine Bird Books).
The Artist:
Jacques Barraband (1767-1809) was the finest ornithological artist of his time. The son of a weaver at the Aubusson Factory, he is first mentioned as a pupil of Joseph Malaine (1745-1809), the eminent flower painter, and is known to have worked for both the Gobelin Factory and the porcelain factory of Sèvres. His most important work was undoubtedly the 300 or so drawings that he produced for François Levaillant's three great ornithological monographs, the greatest of which was the Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets (1801-1805).
Condition:
A Fine Art Superb Folio in good condition. Some vitage character to the fine-quality paper from handling over the yers, little age-toning. Please peruse the photos & Description ~
Text Page(s):
This one comes without original page(s) of text.
About this Species:
Size:
16 x 11-1/4" inches approximately.
Combined Shipping:
Yes! Multiple prints can be combine into one tube (this one will need to ship in a tube due to its large size). eBay should auto-combine your items if you put all of your selections into your shopping cart & check out all together as one order.
If you purchase them individually, eBay charges shipping on each, which I then will need to refund after. If you're assessed multiple shipping charges for one combined package, I will endeavor to refund any overage asap.
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Please note: The information I've included in this listing is based on my best research & observations as an enthusiast of these works, not a professional historian of antiquarian books & prints. I do like to offer some background information readily available to me but make no claims representations of total accuracy. Any corrections or further information you might offer would certainly appreciated! The scans in the images are my best efforts to accurately show the item. Antique prints & old paper are notoriously tricky to scan accurately. In my experience, scanners tend to be thrown off by the off-whites & gradations in age-toned paper. If the scanner produces a scan that's too dark or too brown, etc, I'll often try to reasonably color-correct to represent the print as accurately as possible. I'm not a professional in color-correcting images yet I try my best to show the print as close to the original as possible. I also find that different monitors show colors differently, & eBay's system can sometimes throw off the colors a bit in the uploaded JPEG images as they appear on their site. Thank you!