Author: [SOUDRY, Antoine].
Title: [Collection of 6 watercolours of birds].[France, 1780-1800]. All ca. 42 x 34 cm. Six watercolours, finished with an egg wash. The drawings are housed in a clear plastic sleeve.
Description: [6] ll.Collection of 6 vibrant watercolours of birds, by French artist Antoine Soudry (ca 1750-ca. 1800). The beautiful artworks depict parrots, magpies, a spoonbill, a common crane, and a toucan, outlined with a yellow border and titled in French. They offer detailed views of each bird's plumage and include hints to their habitats, such as a tree branch or water. The watercolours are distinctly late 18th-century in conception and style, and maintain a scientific accuracy typical for the Enlightenment.Although scholars had always been interested in birds, ornithology only emerged as a scientific discipline around the turn of the 18th century. This inspired a large increase in publications on birds, including Ferdinand Johann Adam von Pernau's pioneering essay on bird behaviour, Unterricht was mit dem lieblichen Geschöpff, denen Vögeln ... machen könne (1702), Eleazar Albin's A natural history of birds (1731-1738), and Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaix (1770-1783). Since these publications needed illustrations, there was also an increase in ornithological artworks. The present watercolours are original, but show similarities to bird illustrations from the same time period. They may have been intended as illustrations themselves, although we have not been able to find proof that they were ever used as such. The works are not signed, but they can be attributed to Soudry because of the clear stylistic similarity to his other works.The artworks are somewhat browned and foxed, with tape on the back from a past mount, the spoonbill has been painted onto a different type of paper than the others and is slightly frayed around the edges. Otherwise in good condition.l Not in Thieme/Becker.

Keywords: [04F65CFF5112] ART, ARCHITECTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY|[04F65CFF5112] ART, ARCHITECTURE & PHOTOGRAPHY -> [G91CNMP078RQ] Drawings, Prints & Watercolours|[5091845FC46C] NATURAL HISTORY|[5091845FC46C] NATURAL HISTORY -> [79AAA7E3725F] Birds / Ornithology|[5091845FC4