Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Cuckoos and Anis, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944
£180 ($235, €210)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1944
- Technique
- Other
- Coloring
- Printed color
- Condition
- Good. Good condition for its age. The mount is toned with a few small spots and light wear to the edges; the image itself is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.
- Period
- 20th century
- Section
- Birds
- Reference
- BG-14389-1-21
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Cuckoos and anis print after Descourtilz, 1944: this is Estampa 21 from the Ornitologia Brasileira, the Kosmos edition of the French painter's paintings of Brazilian birds.
Three birds of notably different plumage share a single perch, with a fourth, much smaller bird hanging below. At the top, a bird with a glossy blue-black head and back, a clean white breast and belly, and a wing patterned in black and cream perches upright, its long black tail trailing behind it. Just below and to the left, a second bird shows a wing barred in blackish-brown and white over a pale gray body, a red eye and a brown crown. The largest bird in the group occupies the center and lower portion of the plate: pale gray overall, its back feathers edged in dark, scalloped bars, a short crest raised at the back of the crown, a heavy pale bill and blue-gray legs gripping a stub of branch. Beneath it, hanging from the same perch, a small rufous-brown bird with a pale throat and a long banded tail clings upside down, its tail echoing the curve of the branch above.
Livraria Kosmos Editora published the Ornitologia Brasileira ou História Natural das Aves do Brasil, notáveis por sua plumagem, canto e hábitos in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1944. This first Portuguese edition, translated by Eurico Santos from the French original of the 1850s, was limited to 1,315 copies (1,000 plus 315 numbered). All 48 plates are color offset prints of Descourtilz's paintings of Brazilian birds, each captioned "Estampa" with its number on a toned card within a printed green ornamental border.
Jean-Théodore Descourtilz (circa 1796 to 1855) was a French painter and naturalist who 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.
Strong in color and suitable for framing, this cuckoos and anis print after Descourtilz would make a handsome addition to a collection of ornithology prints or a colorful focal point for a library or garden room.
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.
This is an original print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
