1776 Rare Manetti Bird Engraving - Wild Duck In Flight - Fine Color
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:43191997 |
A superb original engraving which was an illustration to "Storia Naturali degli Uccelli..." by Severio Manetti, published in Florence between 1767 and 1776. The history of this publication is copied from the internet below.
This is Plate DLXXXII illustrating the "Anas Palumbus Torquatus" which by literal translation references the Wood Pigeon although the image gives the impression more of a wild duck. Very few of the illustrations in this publication show a bird in full flight
F...ine condition printed on hand laid paper - there is a mark along the bottom margin just touching the plate line - see scan. Beautiful original hand coloring
Page size 17.5 x 13.5 inches
This is an original antique print guaranteed to be of the period described and not a later reproduction . Another example of this plate can be seen on the internet offered at 750 euros
SEVERIO MANETTI
The history of Manetti's work is fascinating; published between 1767 and 1776, the Storia Naturali degli Uccelli ...Ornithologia, methodice digesta was a grand project. The task of putting the work together was undertaken by the Tuscan physician - naturalist Saverio Manetti, who graduated from the University of Pisa in 1747, joining the College of Melicone in Florence in 1758. He was a member of the Royal Society, a founder of the Academy of Georgofili, and director of the Florentine Botanical Garden (from 1749-82).
The idea of one of the largest surveys of ornithology yet attempted sprang from the sponsorship of Marquis Giovanni Gerini, one of the old Florentine families. Manetti arranged for the drawings of the birds to be prepared from life from examples in Gerini's aviaries or from skins in his or other collections. The introduction to the published work stresses that no bird was drawn that was not from life or had not been sufficiently examined. Abbé Lorenzo Lorenzi and the young Violante Vanni were the artists, engravers and colourists for the work, Manetti was responsible for the text, nomenclature of species and arranging the patrons and distribution of the work. Abbe Lorenzi came from Volterra and was a pupil of Ippolito Cigna and he had already worked for Gerini. Vanni, one of the few women in this field, was a pupil of Robert Strange and is described by a contemporary as a 'woman of very low extraction but of great skill, who having obtained a comfortable way of living in producing feminine frolics, began drawing under the guidance of Abbé Lorenzi, with success matured in age'. One of Vanni's first projects was as an artist on the Gazetiere Americano published in 1763 in Leghorn by Marco Coltellini. The engravers were Scacciati and Terrini, and Rossi and Vanni drew the zoological plates, modelled on Edward's History of Uncommon Birds (1745-51) and Merian's Metamorphosis Insectorum.
00054
This is Plate DLXXXII illustrating the "Anas Palumbus Torquatus" which by literal translation references the Wood Pigeon although the image gives the impression more of a wild duck. Very few of the illustrations in this publication show a bird in full flight
F...ine condition printed on hand laid paper - there is a mark along the bottom margin just touching the plate line - see scan. Beautiful original hand coloring
Page size 17.5 x 13.5 inches
This is an original antique print guaranteed to be of the period described and not a later reproduction . Another example of this plate can be seen on the internet offered at 750 euros
SEVERIO MANETTI
The history of Manetti's work is fascinating; published between 1767 and 1776, the Storia Naturali degli Uccelli ...Ornithologia, methodice digesta was a grand project. The task of putting the work together was undertaken by the Tuscan physician - naturalist Saverio Manetti, who graduated from the University of Pisa in 1747, joining the College of Melicone in Florence in 1758. He was a member of the Royal Society, a founder of the Academy of Georgofili, and director of the Florentine Botanical Garden (from 1749-82).
The idea of one of the largest surveys of ornithology yet attempted sprang from the sponsorship of Marquis Giovanni Gerini, one of the old Florentine families. Manetti arranged for the drawings of the birds to be prepared from life from examples in Gerini's aviaries or from skins in his or other collections. The introduction to the published work stresses that no bird was drawn that was not from life or had not been sufficiently examined. Abbé Lorenzo Lorenzi and the young Violante Vanni were the artists, engravers and colourists for the work, Manetti was responsible for the text, nomenclature of species and arranging the patrons and distribution of the work. Abbe Lorenzi came from Volterra and was a pupil of Ippolito Cigna and he had already worked for Gerini. Vanni, one of the few women in this field, was a pupil of Robert Strange and is described by a contemporary as a 'woman of very low extraction but of great skill, who having obtained a comfortable way of living in producing feminine frolics, began drawing under the guidance of Abbé Lorenzi, with success matured in age'. One of Vanni's first projects was as an artist on the Gazetiere Americano published in 1763 in Leghorn by Marco Coltellini. The engravers were Scacciati and Terrini, and Rossi and Vanni drew the zoological plates, modelled on Edward's History of Uncommon Birds (1745-51) and Merian's Metamorphosis Insectorum.
00054
