Cardinals and Finches, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Name: Cardinals and Finches, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-14389-1-43
Price: 325 USD
Availability: InStock

$325

€290 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1944
Maker: After Jean-Théodore Descourtilz
Kind: Birds, Plants & Natural History
Technique: Other
Color: Printed color
Size: 31.5 × 23 cm (12.4 × 9.1 in)
Condition: Good. Good condition for its age. The mount is toned with a few small spots, including a small brown spot in the lower left, and light edge wear. Please review the images for further condition details.
Period: The Twentieth Century
Places: Brazil
Reference: BG-14389-1-43

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

Cardinals and finches print after Descourtilz, Estampa 43 of the Ornitologia Brasileira, published in Rio de Janeiro in 1944 and printed in color by offset from Jean-Théodore Descourtilz's own painting.

Five birds are gathered on and around a spray of grass and a forked branch. At the top, a bird with a bright red crest, a gray back and a clean white belly perches on a pale yellow-green stem, its bill short and pale. Below and to the left, a second bird, warm reddish-brown with a red crown, perches on a blade of grass. To the right, a third bird shows a blue-gray head, a chestnut patch at the ear and a streaked brown-and-cream body. At lower left, a fourth bird, streaked buff and brown throughout, perches on a broad green leaf. At lower right, a fifth bird with an olive-green body, a blue-gray head and a face striped in black and white, its flank touched with yellow, completes the group. The grass and leaves are rendered simply, giving each bird a clear individual perch within the shared composition.

The Ornitologia Brasileira ou História Natural das Aves do Brasil, notáveis por sua plumagem, canto e hábitos was published by Livraria Kosmos Editora in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1944: the first Portuguese edition, translated by Eurico Santos, of a work first published in French in the 1850s, limited to 1,315 copies (1,000 plus 315 numbered). Its 48 color offset plates reproduce Descourtilz's own paintings of Brazilian birds, each captioned "Estampa" with its number and mounted on a toned card within a printed green ornamental border.

The artist, Jean-Théodore Descourtilz (circa 1796 to 1855), was a French painter and naturalist. He traveled to Brazil in the late 1820s, devoted himself to painting its birds, and published his first work on the birds of Brazil in 1834.

Decorative and strong in color, this cardinals and finches print after Descourtilz would frame well for a study, library or garden room, or sit alongside other Brazilian bird prints in a natural history collection.

This plate is in good condition for its age. The mount shows ordinary age toning, with a few small spots, including a small brown spot in the lower left, and light edge wear. Please review the images for further condition details.

This is an original print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.

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