Pic noir hupe, de la Louisiane

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. Pic noir hupe, de la Louisiane portrays a pileated woodpecker with precise realism. Martinet engraved the piece c. 1770- 1786 as plate seven hundred eighteen for Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. Seated on a branch, the woodpecker resides in its natural habitat, and its tail feathers extend past the edge of the painted frame, creating a realistic illusion. Vivid colors detail changes in value while preserving Martinet's directional hatch marks. Convincing texture from Martinet's linework suggests that Pic noir hupe, de la Louisiane was created primarily from life.