Curl-Crested, Chestnut-Eared Aracaris, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Curl-crested and chestnut-eared aracaris print after Descourtilz from the 1944 Ornitologia Brasileira: Estampa 14, a color offset print of Brazilian birds reproducing a painting by Jean-Théodore Descourtilz.

Two aracaris share a forked branch, one at rest and one leaning up toward it from below. The upper bird has a black head set off by pale, oddly ruffled crown feathers, a small white patch below the eye, and a body marked in a broad yellow breast band crossed by red, with dark green wings and red beneath the tail. The second bird, angled below and to the right with its head thrown back, shows a long pale bill, a finely speckled dark crown, a pale throat and a rufous patch at the ear, its underside a soft cream lightly scaled in red, its tail long and gray trailing off the edge of the branch. Both grip the same weathered wood with pale blue-gray feet, the branch bare of leaves and set against plain paper.

The plate comes from the Ornitologia Brasileira ou História Natural das Aves do Brasil, notáveis por sua plumagem, canto e hábitos, issued in 1944 by Livraria Kosmos Editora of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. First published in French in the 1850s, the work appeared here in its first Portuguese edition, translated by Eurico Santos and limited to 1,315 copies, 1,000 plus 315 numbered. Each of its 48 color offset plates is captioned "Estampa" with its number and mounted on a toned card with a printed green ornamental border.

Descourtilz, a French painter and naturalist who lived from circa 1796 to 1855, traveled to Brazil in the late 1820s and devoted himself to painting its birds. His first work on the birds of Brazil appeared in 1834.

This curl-crested and chestnut-eared aracaris print after Descourtilz is decorative and strong in color, and works well framed on its own in a study or hallway or hung with other Brazilian bird prints from the same volume.

This plate is in good condition for its age. The mount shows ordinary age toning, with a few small spots and light wear to the edges and corners; the image itself is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.