George Glazer Gallery - Antique Bird Prints

Chinese White Pheasant
Manetti Watercolor Study, Florence, 18th C.

Saviero Manetti (1723-1784) (editor)
Lorenzo Lorenzi (act. c. 1760) and
Violante Vanni (c. 1732-1776) (attributed to)
Fagiano della China bianco, e porporino cupo. Phasianus Sinensis albus ac nigro purpureus, Plate CCLXI
[Pheasant from China, white and deep purple]
from Storia naturale degli uccelli trattata con metodo e adornata di figure intagliate in rame e miniate al naturale. Ornithologia methodice digesta atque iconibus aeneis ad vivum illuminatis ornate.
[Natural History of the Birds Treated Systematically and Adorned with Copperplate Engraving Illustrations, in Miniature and Life-Size]
Florence: 2nd Half 18th Century
Pen and ink and watercolor on laid paper, later mounted to card
17 x 13 inches
$2,200

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Watercolor painting of a Chinese white pheasant from one of the greatest sets of bird studies ever produced, compiled in Florence by Saviero Manetti. Lorenzo Lorenzi (act. c. 1760) and Violante Vanni (c. 1732-1776) were the artists and engravers for this set. This unusual example is an original watercolor rather than the more commonly encountered prints. The number of the image and title are in manuscript ink in the bottom margin, in the same type of calligraphy used in the prints, though the plate numbers of the prints generally are in the upper right of the image and the prints generally have the title in the top margin and dedication information in the bottom margin. It is possible that this is an original study for the print or was made by the artists for presentation or another purpose. Alternatively this watercolor could be a copy of one of the prints by an unknown artist of the period or later. The quality of execution of the image and calligraphy, similarity to the prints, and use of period laid paper and oxidation of the ink suggest the former, however, rather than the latter.

No other examples of original watercolors for the series are known to us for comparison. However, a pair of watercolors of a similar size and on the same format as the Manetti birds set was sold at auction for $5,019 at Christie’s House Sale, Rockefeller Center, New York on October 2, 2002. They were listed in that auction as “Dutch School” but appear more likely to have been Florentine inasmuch as they have the same style, format, calligraphy and numbering of the Manetti series.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning. Faint mat burn very outer edges, not obtrusive. Later mounted on cardboard, appears to be a stable backing.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 5, p. 637 (Lorenzi), Vol. 8, p. 471 (Vanni).

Dance, S. Peter. The Art of Natural History: Animal Illustrators and their Work. London : 1978, p. 70.

“Lorenzo Lorenzi: Gallo Commune…” Vatican Library Collection. 2002. http://www.vedo.com/store/item.asp?DEPARTMENT_ID=17&ITEM_ID=2966 (2 May 2005).

Nissen, Claus. Die Illustrierten Vogelbucher: ihre Geschichte und Bibliographie. Stuttgart:1976. 588.

Wood, Casey A. (ed.) An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology Based Chiefly on the Titles in the Blacker Library of Zoology, the Emma Shearer Wood Library of Ornithology, the Bibliotheca Osleriana, and Other Libraries of McGill University, Montreal. London: Humphry Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931. p. 450.

Sitwell, Sacheverell. Great Flower Books, 1700-1900. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990. p. 92.

Zimmer, John Todd. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Zoological Series, Publ. 239-240, Vol. 16. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1926. p. 241.