Francois Nicholas Martinet Bird Engraving

Francois Nicholas Martinet Bird Engraving.

Circa 1770.

The framed Francois Martinet engraving is from Buffon's Historie Naturelle des Oiseaux displayed beautifully in a large frame. There are two birds depicted 1. Martin pecheur Madagascar, 2. Martin pecheur de Pondecherry.

Dimensions: 21 3/4 inches high x 13 inches wide x 3/4 inches deep (sight: 10 inches x 8 1/4 inches).

Over the course of his illustrious career, François Nicolas Martinet (1731-1790?) engraved illustrations of birds for some of the most influential naturalists in 18th-century France, including François Salèrne, Mathurin Brisson, and, above all, Georges Louis Leclerc, le comte de Buffon.

This exceptional, hand-colored engraving is from Georges Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon's work Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The work was published in Paris from 1770 to 1786. Francois Nicolas Martinet provided all of the illustrations for the work.

Histoire Naturelle was the most comprehensive and noted ornithological work of the 1700s. It included a broad variety of birds native to Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Martinet was one of the greatest birds artists of the 18th century. He worked for the French court as an engraver and artist. Martinet's illustrations are accurate and beautifully artistic.

Comte de Buffon was a respected naturalist and scientist. Buffon dared to challenge religious thought decades before Darwin. He suggested the Earth was older than 6,000 years and the common ancestry of apes and humans.

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This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

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