Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"

Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"

François Levaillant

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This plates originates from the publication Histoire naturelle des perroquets, one of several examples of the successful collaboration between Levaillant and Barraband. Their first project together transpired after Levaillant returned to France following extensive travels through Africa. Barraband provided the illustrations for Levaillant’s six-volume Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (1796–1808); he outdid himself, however, in the illustrations of parrot species for Histoire naturelle des perroquets, which were celebrated by contemporaries as the most lifelike renderings of birds ever made. Their strong three-dimensional quality was achieved not only through accurate drawing, but also through the combination of color printing and further additions of bright colors and shading, done by hand in watercolor.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"Plate 25, from "Histoire naturelle des perroquets"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.