François-Nicolas Martinet (c. 1725-c. 1804) -
(artist and engraver)
Comte de Buffon (Georges Louis Leclerc) -
(1707-1788) (editor)
Birds from Around the World
from Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux [Natural History of the Birds]
L'Imprimerie Royale, Paris: 1770-86
Hand-colored engravings
8.75 x 6.5 inches, image and title
12.75 x 9.25 inches, overall
Prices vary, $250 to $750 each

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Series of bird prints from the most important and comprehensive late 18th century French ornithological colorplate set. A broad spectrum of birds are shown, including birds native to Europe, as well as exotic tropical birds such as parrots and toucans.  Each is rendered in a scientific manner, outlined in yellow border.  They are distinctly 18th-century in conception and style, generally with a hint of the bird’s habitat, such as a tree branch, rock or water. They are somewhat similar to the works of George Edwards, produced in the mid 18th century in London.

These bird studies are from Buffon’s edition of 1,008 hand-colored prints, Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux.   The work has a complicated publishing history, originating with the publication of Martinet’s plates by Edme Louis Daubenton in 42 fascicles from 1765 to 1780, in collaboration with Buffon.  Buffon also published a 44-volume natural history work with various studies, including birds, titled Histoire Naturelle Generale Et Particuliere [Natural History, General and Particular] (Paris, 1749-1804), which included works by various artists including  Jacques Eustache de Sève.  See our works by de Sève.

Georges-Louis Marie Leclerc, the Count of Buffon, was a French aristocrat of formidable intellect and achievements, including books on mathematics and natural history. Although his father initially steered him toward law school, Buffon persisted in pursuing his interest in math. At the age of 20, he discovered the binomial theorem and later introduced differential and integral calculus into probability theory. He soon became fascinated with biological science, and his father relented and let him enroll in the faculty of medicine to study botany and zoology. As a young man in Paris, he befriended Voltaire and other intellectuals, and gained admission to the prestigious Academy of Science at age 27.

Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle was his major achievement and an ambitious project characteristic of the 18th-century Enlightenment: a 44-volume encyclopedia attempting to include everything known about the natural world and widely disseminate scientific knowledge. It was the first complete natural history survey presented in a popular form, and also broke ground in attempting to separate science from theological dogma. Decades before Darwin introduced his theory of evolution, Buffon dared to challenge religious thought with empirical observations, suggesting that the earth was older than 6,000 years and that the physical resemblance between humans and apes might be explained by their having a common ancestry. While the theories he proposed to explain these phenomena were by and large incorrect, he correctly grasped that a new paradigm was needed.

François Nicolas Martinet was a French engraver and draughtsman. In 1756 he was working for the court of France as Graveur du Cabinet du Roi, under the auspices of the Menus Plaisirs du Roi, making engravings after drawings by others of such subjects as the May Ball at Versailles during the Carnival of 1763. At the same time, Martinet produced illustrations for plays or comic operas by such contemporaries as Marmontel, Voltaire and Philidor. He engraved some of these, while others were drawn by him but engraved by his sister Thérèse Martinet (born c. 1731). He also engraved portraits, landscapes and genre scenes.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual light toning, soiling, soft creases.  Some papers with subtle cream tone, others with subtle blue tone, as typical for this work. Overall bright and attractive.

References:

Anker, 76.

Balis, 40.

"Buffon." Info Science Portraits. 1998-2003. http://www.infoscience.fr/histoire/portrait/buffon.html (16 June 2003).

Ellis, 411.

“François-Nicolas Martinet.”  The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com http://www.artnet.com/library/05/0546/T054693.asp.

"Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon." UMCP Exhibition Halls: Evolution. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/buffon2.html (16 June 2003).

Jackson, Christine. Dictionary of Bird Artists of the World.  p.356.

Nissen IVB, 158.

O'Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F. "Georges Buffon." School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. 1996. http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Buffon.html (16 June 2003).

Ronsil, 413.

Sacheverell Sitwell. Fine Bird Books. Foreword by S. Dillon Ripley. New York: 1990, p. 63.

Stresemann, Erwin. Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975, p. 59.