Falcons and Kestrels, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Name: Falcons and Kestrels, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-14389-1-4
Price: 360 USD
Availability: InStock

$360

€320 · 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, a small surface crease in the upper left and light edge wear. Please review the images for further condition details.
Period: The Twentieth Century
Places: Brazil
Reference: BG-14389-1-4

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

Falcons and kestrels print after Descourtilz, taken from the 1944 Rio de Janeiro edition of the Ornitologia Brasileira, where it appears as Estampa 4, printed in color by offset.

Three falcons occupy the sheet, each perched on its own branch of a leafless, pale-washed tree. At the top, a small falcon shows a rufous back streaked with black, blue-gray crown and wing coverts, and a boldly marked black-and-white face; its breast is pale and lightly spotted, its rufous tail crossed by fine black bars. Lower and to the left, a second and larger bird, brown above and finely barred brown-and-white below, grips a small green parrot in its talons, the parrot's body hanging limp with one blue-edged wing visible; the falcon's feet and cere are bright yellow. To the right and below, a third bird with a blackish hood, brown back and pale cream breast perches upright on a diagonal branch, its long tail barred in dark and pale bands, its legs yellow, looking off to the right.

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 falcons and kestrels 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, a small surface crease in the upper 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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