The Art of Natural History: Botanical Illustrations, Ornithological Drawings, and Other Masterpieces from the Age of Exploration

Heurtel, Pascale and Michelle Lenoir. 2018. The Art of Natural History: Botanical Illustrations, Ornithological Drawings, and Other Masterpieces from the Age of Exploration. Rizzoli, New York, 632 p. [9780847863082]

 

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link: The Art of Natural

History: Botanical Illustrations,

Ornithological Drawings, and

Other Masterpieces from the

Age of Exploration

From the publisher: This oversized collector’s edition showcases antique paintings and drawings of birds and animals from the most important natural history collection in France.

An unparalleled collection of the most beautiful—yet scientific—depictions of flora and fauna ever produced, these artworks document three centuries of exploration of the far reaches of the world—a rich visual record harking back to a time when science relied upon painstaking human illustration as the only way to record exotic plants and unknown animals observed during voyages of discovery.

All the artworks included here were depicted on vellum, a high-quality, long-lasting parchment that fell out of use around 1900 when it was supplanted by photography. France’s national collection consists of over 7,000 such artworks and is among the world’s finest. Flora and fauna from every corner of the globe are represented in precisely rendered color and detail.

Sadly, many of the species depicted in these masterful yet hauntingly accurate portraits are now endangered, threatened—or in many cases, already extinct. This volume is both a celebration of the human quest for knowledge and an epitaph for a fast disappearing world—as well as a feast for the eyes for anyone who loves birds or vintage natural history art. This exquisite and timeless book is beautifully presented in a jacketed volume within a slipcase and luxuriously packaged within an illustrated mailer with a handle for portability.

 

Herpetological notes: This lavishly published volume reminds one of the full size reprint of Seba’s Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: Locupletissmi rerum naturalium thesauri 1734-1765 by Taschen in 2001. Although the number of herpetological plates included in this volume are few, they are exquisite and unlikely to be found anywhere else. 

 

Herpetological plates included are:

Reunion Giant Tortoise (extinct species) by Claude Aubriet

Imaginary lizard by Jean Joubert

Tortoise – possibly Testudo(teachea and lungs) by Pierre Joseph Redouté

Red-footed Tortoise by Nicholas Huet

Brazilian Snake-necked Turtle by Pierre François de Wailly

Spotted Turtle by Nicholas Maréchal

African Softshell Turtle by Henri Joseph Rodouté

Chinese Alligator by Nicholas Huet

Ocellated Lizard by Henri Joseph Redouté

Senegal Chameleon by Nicholas Huet

Nile Monitor by Nicholas Huet

Grass Snake by Nicholas Huet

Egyptian Cobra by Jacques Barraband

Timber Rattlesnake by Henri Joseph Redouté

European Green Toad by Nicholas Huet

Marbled Newt by Henri Joseph Redouté

Horned Viper by J. Huet

Bell’s Dabb Lizard by Paul Louis Oudart and Marie Firmin Bocourt

Dwarg Crocodile by J. Huet

Brazilian Horned Frog by Juliette Alberti

Magdalena River Turtle by A.J.B. Vaillant

Asian Water Monitor [Misidentified Tegu] – by Jean-Charles Werner

Green Iguana by Antoine Chazal

Boa Constrictor by A.J.B. Vaillant

Gaboon Viper by Antoine Chazal

Egyptian Cobra by Marie Firmin Bocourt

Malagasy Tree Boa by Eugène Juillerat

Bullfrog by Antoine Chazal

Radiated Tortoise by A. Jobin

Crocodile fossil by Antoine Chazal

Red-footed Tortoise by Nicholas Huet

Contents: 

Preface

The Vellum Collection: Between Art and Science

 

The Beginnings of the Vellum Collection (1630–1685)

Painting Books in the Seventeenth Century

Gaston d’Orléans and the Birth of the Collection
Gaston d’Orléans, Collector and Bibliophile

Gaston d’Orléans, Collector of Plants and Birds

Nicolas Robert, The Vellum Collections First Painter

La Guirlande de Julie

Notes

 

The King’s Vellums (1685–1780)

The King’s Vellums and Louis XIV’s Collections

The “Painters in Miniature to the King”

The Vellums and the King’s Library

The “Plantes du roi”

Notes

 

The Golden Age of the Vellums and the Muséum (1780–1832)

The Vellums at the Muséum

The Muséum’s Painters: From Van Spaendonck to Rodouté

Vellums and Publishing in the Early Nineteenth Century

Notes

 

The Collection’s Growth, End, and Renaissance (1832–2005)

The Diversity of the Collection During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

The Muséum’s Vellum Collection: A Phoenix?

The Node-Véran Vellum Collection in Montpellier: Between Promotion and Scientific Research

Notes

 

The Vellums

Introduction

Were the Botanical Vellums Scientific Tools?

Animals in the Vellums of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle

Notes

 

The Beginnings of the Vellum Collection (1630–1685)

Botanical Plates

Zoological Plates

Captions

 

The King’s Vellums (1685–1780)

Botanical Plates

Zoological Plates

Captions

 

The Golden Age of the Vellums and the Muséum (1780–1832)

Botanical Plates

Zoological Plates

Captions

 

The Collection’s Growth, End, and Renaissance (1832–2005)

Botanical Plates

Zoological Plates

Captions

 

Appendix

The Vellum Technique

Bibliography

Index of Artists

Index of Persons and Institutions

Index of Scientific Names