Name: SET OF SIX BIRD PRINTS. ROBERT. 1676/1772.
SKU: PR024
Availability: InStock

Description

PUBLICATION DETAILS: Image size 12 ½” w x 8 ¾” h (landscape orientation) on laid paper trimmed to 13” w x 9 ¾” h. Published in: Collection d’oiseaux les plus rares gravés et dessinés d’aprés nature…l’histoire naturelle et raisonnée des différens oiseaux qui habitent le globe … de la Ménagerie du Roi… Approximate translation: [Collection of the most rare Birds drawn and engraved from nature … the natural and rational History of the different Birds that Inhabit the Globe… from the Menagerie of the King.] Paris: L.C. Desnos, 1772. There plates are NOT from his Diverses oyseaux dessignées et gravées d’après le naturel. Paris: F. Poilly excudit, [no date, but 1673]. Folio. (14 5/8 x 9 5/8 inches) which has 31 plates-oriented portrait style.

DESCRIPTION: These are finely executed prints of birds from the 1772 reissue of Robert’s originally published in 1676. They depict birds of prey, waterfowl, songbirds and tropical species. The source book originally contained 23 numbered plates by Robert. Six of those plates are available in this present offering. On some plates the names of the birds are given in both Latin and French. All plates indicate “N. Robert del. fecit. et ex. c.p.r” just above the bottom neatline. The notation “c.p.r.” or “cum privilegio regis” indicates a guarantee of royal protection for Robert (similar to a copyright).

ROBERT: Nicolas Robert (1614-1685) was a French miniaturist and engraver who was born in Langres and died in Paris. He was one of the greatest natural history artists of the seventeenth century and was acclaimed for his watercolors executed on fine prepared vellum. In 1650, Gaston d’Orléans, brother of Louis XIII commissioned a set of paintings on vellum of the birds and flowers of his menagerie and botanical garden at the Château of Blois. Over the next decade he filled five large folio volumes. In 1664 he was appointed as “peintre ordinaire de Sa Majesté pur la miniature” (Painter of Miniatures) to Louis XIV.

SIX PLATES: The six plates in this offering are numbered corresponding to our image numbers.

[1] Plate VIII. Struthocamelus Autruche; Phenicopteros, [Ostrich and Flamingoes]. This plate has a 3/8 inch black line over the left small bird and the wing on the middle small bird has a blank area. All other plate have no image faults.

[2 Plate XII. Pauo siue Cauda Chinensis [Crested Crane], Griie Bolearique.

[3[ Plate XIII. Ciconia, Cigogne, [Stork].

[4] Plate XIV. Ardea alba, Heron blanc [Egret (America) or White Heron (Europe)]. Mouette le plus gra nde Espece. Grande Espece de Mouette. [Gulls]

[5]Plate XV. Damoiselle [young female]. No titles on the bird images.

[6] Plate XVII. Vrogallus minor [Ptarmigan or Grouse]. Grigallus major. Logopus. Perdrix blanche [White Partridge]. Ardea [Heron].

CONDITION: Narrow margins but ¼ inch or more. Prints in the book cited above have full margins. Image very good.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Johnston, Jan. (Cover page) Collection d’oiseaux gravés et designés d’apres nature pour servir à l’Histoire des oiseaux (Ed. 1772), Hachette Livre Bnf, 2017. This reference book contains educed scale facsimiles of the images in the source book cited above in our Publication Details plus images by Jon Johnston (1603-1675).The facsimile tile page shows: Collection d’oiseaux les plus rares gravés et dessinés d’aprés nature…l’histoire naturelle et raisonnée des différens oiseaux qui habitent le globe … de la Ménagerie du Ro….

Blunt, Wilfred and William T. Stearn, The art of botanical illustration: an illustrated history. First published in 1950. Various editions and publishers.

“Nicolas Robert.” The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000.