A hand coloured antique print entitled Le Promérops à ventre rayé
From ‘Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux’ by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
Published by L’Imprimerie Royale, Paris between 1770 and 1786.
Engraved by Haussard.
36 volumes of Histoire Naturelle were published during the author’s lifetime with a further eight being produced after his death by Leclerc’s friend Bernard Germain de Lacépède.
Born a man of modest circumstance George-Louis Leclerc secured a massive inheritance from his godfather. With this he travelled to Paris where, after some study, he earned a position as Head of Le Jardin du Roi, a major botanical garden in the city. Here he started his studies of plants and animals in earnest, collecting vast numbers of botanical and zoological specimens and turning the park into an institute of research.
Promérops translates as Sugarbird, this one having a striped breast. The Promérops lives in South Africa. It is characterised by a long curved bill with an extendible tongue that is finished with a brush which it uses to collect nectar from flowers .
Size: 26.5 x 21 cms or 10 3/8 x 8 1/4 inches.
Size of coloured part of image: 19 x 15 cms or 7 1/2 x 6 inches.
Condition: Near Fine. The image is very clean and fresh. There is a small dark mark on the top left hand corner of the sky. The white surround is faintly browned at the edges and marked by small black dots. The paper upon which the image is printed is lightly creased and uneven in shape. This is usual for the period. There are two small pieces of paper stuck to the reverse of the print; probably once used to affix it to a mount.
