BOUCHARD, Maddalena

Faucon coleur de marron avec un grand bec aquilin [Chestnut-coloured Falcon with long beak]

[Pl. 28] [Rome: Bouchard & Gravier, 1775]. Etching with engraving, coloured by hand. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling. Image size (including text): 14 5/8 x 12 inches. Sheet size: 20 5/8 x 15 inches.

A beautiful, exuberant image from one of the rarest colour-plate bird books 'Recueil de cent-trente-trois Oiseaux des plus belle especes'.

Maddalena Bouchard may be considered by some as a primitive among bird artists; however, while her birds are not true to nature in the conventional sense, they have more exuberance and charm than almost any other ornithological art with the possible exception of Manetti's Ornithologia (1765-76). Bouchard was also responsible for plates in Bonelli's Hortus Romanus (Rome 1772-93), which was also published by Bouchard and Gravier.

Cf. Anker 53; cf. Nissen IVB 124; cf. Fine Birds Books (1990), p. 79; cf. Ripley and Scriber p. 37.

Item #7302

Price: $800.00