18th C. Francois N Martinet Colored Engraving of Birds

**Originally Listed At $150**

Francois-Nicolas Martinet ( French, 1731-1800). Two engravings of birds from "Histoire Naturelle de Oiseaux," ca. 1770 -1783; titled: "1. Tangara Verd Tachete, Des Indes 2. Tangara Du Perou" & "La Perruche." Plate 133 is a pair of colorful South American tanagers rendered with realistic feathers and labeled with the names below ("1. Indies spotted green tanager 2. Peruvian tanager"). Please note, many New World bird species have long since been renamed and /or reclassified, we believe this to be an illustration of the bay headed tanager and either the speckled or spotted Tanager. The other engraving is plate 550, and "perruche" is used to refer to parakeets and similar-sized parrots, which could be any number of species. The plates have the characteristic yellow borders showing a snippet of the bird's habitat. Size of sheets: 17.75" L x 12.5" W (45.1 cm x 31.8 cm)

Francois-Nicolas Martinet (1731-1800) was a French engineer, engraver, and naturalist. Although he initially trained as an engineer and draftsman, he made engravings for books, eventually making it his primary profession. Limited information is available about his life, but by 1756, Martinet had become the engraver for the King's cabinet, serving the Maison du Roi. He gained recognition for engraving plates for numerous works on natural history, particularly ornithology. He made 1008 hand colored engravings for "Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux" edited by Georges Louis Leclerc, le comte de Buffon (1707-1788) and 21 ornithological illustrations for Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedie.

Provenance: ex-Royal Athena Galleries, New York City, New York, USA

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#183748
Condition Report: Expected age wear with normal toning and foxing to both. Small crease to tanager's corner. The parrot is shrink-wrapped on cardboard, with a tiny tear to the plastic, engraving is excellent.