Manakins and Tanagers, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Manakins and tanagers print after Descourtilz, dated 1944 and issued as Estampa 41 of the Ornitologia Brasileira, a color offset print from Jean-Théodore Descourtilz's paintings of Brazilian birds.

Four birds share a leafy branch with small dark berries. At the top, a bird with a green body, a red crown and a lightly streaked breast perches at the very tip of a twig, its legs pale pink. Below and to the left, a second bird, black overall with a bright red face and chin, hangs from the underside of a leaf. To the right, a third bird shows a black body and a solid yellow head. At the bottom of the plate, a fourth bird with a yellow-orange head and breast, a black wing marked by a white bar, and a dark tail perches near a small stalk of red fruit. The leaves are drawn in the same generous, overlapping manner used throughout the volume, with small round berries scattered among them.

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 manakins and tanagers 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, a faint surface crease in the upper left and light edge wear. Please review the images for further condition details.