Finches and Seedeaters, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Finches and seedeaters print after Descourtilz from the 1944 Ornitologia Brasileira: Estampa 44, a color offset print of Brazilian birds reproducing a painting by Jean-Théodore Descourtilz.

Six small birds are gathered on a thorny, berry-hung branch. At upper right, a bird with a dark blue-black body perches looking down toward its companions. At upper left, a bright yellow bird with a pale bill sits quietly on a side branch. At the center, an olive-yellow bird with a black wing perches close to a small cluster of red berries. To the left, a bird with a black head and a chestnut-red body and black wing perches lower on the same stem. At lower left, a gray-olive bird with a red bill completes one side of the group, while at lower right a blue-gray bird, plainer than the rest, perches on its own short branch. The berries and fine, feathery leaves of the branch are worked in the same careful botanical manner used elsewhere in the volume.

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 finches and seedeaters 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; the image itself is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.