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Details
English School, 19th Century.
A portfolio of 162 original drawings of birds. [circa 1830-1840]. 162 sheets (each 458 x 284mm. approximately) with pencil, pen, ink and watercolour drawings of between one and five species of birds, the majority titled and numbered in ink in manuscript (one sheet in pencil only, about 40 others unfinished). Unbound, but with contemporary protective limp cloth covers, all within contemporary roan folder (worn).
A FINE SELECTION OF ANONYMOUS ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR DRAWINGS INCLUDING BOTH BRITISH AND EXOTIC BIRDS FROM THE MAINSTREAM EARLY-19TH-CENTURY TRADITION OF NATURAL HISTORY PAINTING BY GIFTED AMATEUR ARTISTS.. The selection includes birds from Australia, India, Africa as well as Europe and Great Britain. Although this represents an unfinished project, it is clear that the drawings (all from a single hand) were executed over a number of years. An improvement in technique is evident, with what are clearly the latest drawings depicting the birds much more accurately than some of the earlier examples. The artist appears to have drawn some examples from life, whilst others are from earlier printed sources. These sources certainly include works by John Latham (A General History of Birds), George Edwards (A Natural History of Birds), Comte de Buffon (Ornithologie) and others. The artist has assigned plate numbers to all but three of the sheets, and has identified most of the subjects of the drawings. The numbering runs from 1-18, 20-30, 32-35, 37-83, 85-95, 97-164 but no systematic arrangement of the subjects has been carried out: the sheets appear to have been numbered in the order in which the artist started the drawings.
A portfolio of 162 original drawings of birds. [circa 1830-1840]. 162 sheets (each 458 x 284mm. approximately) with pencil, pen, ink and watercolour drawings of between one and five species of birds, the majority titled and numbered in ink in manuscript (one sheet in pencil only, about 40 others unfinished). Unbound, but with contemporary protective limp cloth covers, all within contemporary roan folder (worn).
A FINE SELECTION OF ANONYMOUS ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR DRAWINGS INCLUDING BOTH BRITISH AND EXOTIC BIRDS FROM THE MAINSTREAM EARLY-19TH-CENTURY TRADITION OF NATURAL HISTORY PAINTING BY GIFTED AMATEUR ARTISTS.. The selection includes birds from Australia, India, Africa as well as Europe and Great Britain. Although this represents an unfinished project, it is clear that the drawings (all from a single hand) were executed over a number of years. An improvement in technique is evident, with what are clearly the latest drawings depicting the birds much more accurately than some of the earlier examples. The artist appears to have drawn some examples from life, whilst others are from earlier printed sources. These sources certainly include works by John Latham (A General History of Birds), George Edwards (A Natural History of Birds), Comte de Buffon (Ornithologie) and others. The artist has assigned plate numbers to all but three of the sheets, and has identified most of the subjects of the drawings. The numbering runs from 1-18, 20-30, 32-35, 37-83, 85-95, 97-164 but no systematic arrangement of the subjects has been carried out: the sheets appear to have been numbered in the order in which the artist started the drawings.
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