La Grue, d'Amerique

Martinet, François Nicolas, 1731- · [ca. 1770]

François Nicolas Martinet (1725-1804), a French artist living during the late Enlightenment Era, blends science with art in his numerous works. His passion for ornithology led him to collaborate with several notable natural historians, including Georges-Louis Leclerc, Count of Buffon. Martinet created a total of one thousand eight prints for Buffon's extensive Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, from which the plates in this collection derive. Depicting birds in their natural habitats, the plates began as copperplate engravings and later received color from an unknown colorist, possibly Martinet himself. These avian prints emphasize scientific accuracy and natural beauty. Martinet renders Grue, d'Amerique with precise texture and form. Created c. 1770- 1786 as the eight hundred eighty-ninth plate for Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, the print depicts a variety of American crane more commonly known as the Whooping crane. To arrange the bird on the page, Martinet portrays the bird's elongated neck in a natural s-shaped curve, indicative that he studied the subject from life. A scale bar to the left of the bird suggests the specimen's size. Grue, d'Amerique excels in its sensitive use of hatch marks and form.