Browse Items (37 total)
- Collection: Flora and Fauna
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Office of the Dead, at Vespers,
Leaf from a Book of Hours
Leaf from a Book of Hours
In the latter years of the 15th century, Flemish manuscript illuminators initiated a new approach to the embellishment of borders—the area of a page that surrounds the painted miniature or, as in the two sheets on view here, the written text.…
Common Gull (Larus canus),
Plate 437 from The Birds of Europe
Plate 437 from The Birds of Europe
John Gould’s earliest career path followed the one taken by his father, who was a gardener in the Royal Gardens at Windsor Castle. Working so closely with nature encouraged an additional interest in taxidermy, in which he became proficient enough…
Cyrtanthus angustifolius,
Plate 388 from Les Liliacées (Lilies)
Plate 388 from Les Liliacées (Lilies)
Born into a family of artists in the town of Saint-Hubert, then a part of the Southern Netherlands but today a municipality in Belgium, Pierre-Joseph Redouté traveled to Paris in 1782 to work with his brother as a designer of scenery in the theater.…
Eucephala caerulea (Blue-chinned Sapphire),
From A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Family of Humming-birds
From A Monograph of the Trochilidae or Family of Humming-birds
Gould was particularly fond of hummingbirds. Over his lifetime he amassed a collection that exceeded 5,000 specimens. During the Great Exhibition, held in London over the warmer months of 1851, he took advantage of the vast Crystal Palace crowds to…
Ferraria undulata
Plate 28 from Les Liliacées (Lilies)
Plate 28 from Les Liliacées (Lilies)
Born into a family of artists in the town of Saint-Hubert, then a part of the Southern Netherlands but today a municipality in Belgium, Pierre-Joseph Redouté traveled to Paris in 1782 to work with his brother as a designer of scenery in the theater.…
Hyacinthus Orientalis
Preparatory for Mordant de Launay’s Herbier général de l'amateur
Preparatory for Mordant de Launay’s Herbier général de l'amateur
Very little is known about Pancrace Bessa’s earliest training; however, he is recorded as one of the few private students of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, whose work is also represented in this exhibition. After completing his training, Bessa went on to…
Red Throated Dive,
Plate 478 from the royal octavo edition of The Birds of America
Plate 478 from the royal octavo edition of The Birds of America
Object inscriptions: top left corner: No. 96.; top right corner: Pl. 478.; bottom center: W.E.H. / Red-throated Diver. / 1, Male Summer Plumage. 2, do. Winter, 3, Female. 4, Young.; bottom left corner: Drawn from Nature by J.J. Audubon, F.R.S.F.L.S.;…
Shattuck’s Bunting,
Plate 493 from the Royal Octavo edition of The Birds of America
Plate 493 from the Royal Octavo edition of The Birds of America
Object inscriptions: in plate: top left: No..99; top right: Pl. 493.; bottom center: W. F. [illegible] / Shattucks Bunting. / Male; bottom left: Drawn from Nature by J. J. Audubon, F.R.S.F.L.S.; bottom right: Lith. Printed & Cold. by J. T. Bowen,…
White-headed Eagle,
Plate 36 from American Ornithology
Plate 36 from American Ornithology
Like many of the people in his hometown of Paisley, Scotland, Alexander Wilson found employment, while still a young teenager, in the area’s burgeoning weaving industry. An interest in poetry, though—he was inspired by the writings of Robert…
Anemone
Very little is known about this charming watercolor aside from its provenance. It was once held in the collection of Charles de Graimberg (1774–1864), a Parisian nobleman who fled with his family to England at the start of the French Revolution.…