Barbet – Jean Baptiste Audebert and Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot, 1800-1802

“Le Barbu Oranvert” engraving from Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques, Part I: Histoire naturelle et générale des colibris, oiseaux-mouches, jacamars et promerops, created by Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759–1800) and Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot (1748–1831). Published in Paris by Desray, 1800–1802. Size (frame): 56 × 44 cm.

The Orange-green Barbet displays an exceptionally colourful plumage. Only species with a striking, elegant form and iridescent sheen were included in the work. The engravings were printed using an innovative technique devised by Audebert himself, in which multiple copper plates were required for each image. This allowed the colors to be applied directly during the printing process—a rarity around 1800. In his preface, Audebert emphasized that the hues were therefore not subsequently hand-colored.

In the production process, Louis Bouquet assisted with the coloring of the plates, while Langlois was responsible for the printing. The project, however, was not entirely completed by Audebert himself: he died in 1800, before the publication was finished. Only the hummingbirds were actually engraved by his own hand; the remaining birds, including this barbet, were engraved by Vieillot based on Audebert’s drawings and notes.

The monumental folio edition appeared in 32 installments, each offered at 30 francs. The work ranks among the finest and most technically advanced natural history publications of its time, representing a high point in ornithological book illustration in early 19th-century France.

Barbets typically inhabit tropical rainforests, forest edges, and wooded landscapes, where they feed on fruits, insects, and occasionally sap or flowers.

Price: Euro 685,- (incl. frame)