Tanagers and Warblers, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Tanagers and warblers print after Descourtilz, taken from the 1944 Rio de Janeiro edition of the Ornitologia Brasileira, where it appears as Estampa 34, printed in color by offset.

Four small birds occupy a thorny, flowering branch. At upper left, a bird with a green head and back, an orange-red patch at the wing and a pale blue belly perches close to the tip of a leaf. At upper right, a second bird shows an olive-yellow head, a purple-black body, an orange-red band across the wing and tail, and a blue-gray belly. Below them, a third bird with a blue-black head and a throat banded in red and black feeds at one of the branch's small pale flowers, its green body angled downward toward the blossom. At the bottom of the plate, a fourth bird, its head gray-blue and its body patterned in black, orange and yellow, perches on the thorny stem itself, close to a second cluster of small flowers. The branch's thorns and simple toothed leaves are rendered with the same botanical care as the birds.

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 tanagers and warblers 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 small nick to the lower edge, a faint surface crease in the lower right and light edge wear. 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.