1857 Ed Travies [b1809] 45 x 62cm, Le Geai bleu, Le pic, ornithology

Edouard Travies (1809-1865)

Le Geai bleu, Le pic a baguette dorees… North American Birds

From: Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarkables Par Leurs Formes et Leurs Couleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leurs habitudes

Paris: Ledot aine (or Berrieux) and London: E. Gambert & Co. (or Victor Delarue), ca. 1857

Lithographs with original hand-coloring.

Height: 17.72 in (45 cm)

Width: 24.41 in (62 cm) 

Édouard Traviès de Villers (24 March 1809 – 18 November 1876) was a French watercolourist, lithographer and illustrator. He regularly exhibited works at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866 and was primarily known for his paintings of natural history subjects, especially birds. His greatest work was Les oiseaux les plus remarquables par leurs formes et leurs couleurs.

References: Fine Bird Books, p. 147; Nissen IVB 946; Wood 601.

SIMPLY WONDERFUL. AMONG THE BEST PORTRAITS OF BIRDS EVER PAINTED" (Wood).

"One of the finest painters at work in the first half of the 19th century" (Jackson). 

Traviès' artistry represents a pinnacle in French ornithological illustration. The minute precision of Traviès' work places him with the best of France's scientific artists. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone. One of the few plates by Traviès devoted to birds of North America.

For it large dimensions in very good condition. Minor tear to right margin (not close to plate) neatly repaired without loss. Minor edge wear to right margin.