AFA Summer 2020

2020 Antiques & Fine Art 103 Mathurin-Jacques Brisson (French, 1723–1806), author; François-Nicolas Martinet (French, 1731–about 1804), artist, Plate 20 from Ornithologie, Volume 4. Book with letterpress and hand-colored engravings, 1760. Book: 10 x 7¾ inches. Toledo Museum of Art, Mrs. George W. Stevens Fund (2019.18d). Published in 1760, Mathurin-Jacques Brisson’s landmark six-volume study of birds, Ornithologie, was the most complete, systematic ornithological study at the time it was published and remained a model for other ornithologists for more than a century. Brisson was the caretaker to naturalist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur’s (1683–1757) collection of natural history specimens, a large proportion of which was preserved skins, eggs, and nests of birds from around the world. Brisson began a detailed study of these birds, and his position gave him access to the private collections of others, including the occasional live specimen. Ornithologie included descriptions and classifications of 1,136 birds, 320 of which had never been represented in an ornithological study before. Engraver and draftsman François-Nicolas Martinet produced the volumes’ 261 plates illustrating five hundred birds. Unlike some luxury productions, the engravings were not issued with hand-coloring; however, the original owner of Toledo’s set either commissioned a colorist to add watercolor to the plates, or perhaps even added the color themselves—a popular household pastime in the eighteenth century. The colorist was likely unfamiliar with the appearance of many of the birds, since most of the plates feature fanciful color schemes that do not reflect the birds’ actual plumage.