Conures and Parakeets, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Conures and parakeets print after Descourtilz, taken from the 1944 Rio de Janeiro edition of the Ornitologia Brasileira, where it appears as Estampa 10, printed in color by offset.

Four small parrots are gathered on the stalk and husk of a corn plant, an ear of corn with its kernels exposed forming the center of the composition. At upper left a bird with a green body and an orange patch on the cheek perches on a curled leaf; at upper right a second bird shows a nape scaled in brown and an underside marked in red and blue over an olive-green back. In the center, a bright yellow-orange bird with blue-tipped wings feeds directly at the ear of corn, its dark bill working at the exposed kernels. Below and to the right, two further green parakeets, each showing a patch of orange or red on the crown, perch together lower on the stalk, close enough that their wings overlap. The whole group is set against the pale gray-green husks and blades of the corn plant, rendered in enough botanical detail to be read clearly as maize.

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 conures and parakeets 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 faint surface crease in the upper left and light edge wear. Please review the images for further condition details.