1144 - Parrot, hand-coloured engraving from Saverio Manetti's Ornithologia, 18th century

Parrot, hand-coloured engraving from Saverio Manetti's Ornithologia, 18th century Hand-coloured copper engraving on paper, lettered in the plate above and below the image „Pappagallo piccolissimo con la fronte, e groppa rossa – Psittacus minimus fronte ac dorso inferiore rubris“ and with the plate number CXXXIV upper right. Depicted is a green parrot with a red forehead, red cheek, red beak and a red patch on the rump, alighting on a thin twig above a pale dead branch, below a brownish piece of ground. From Saverio Manetti's Ornithologia. Age-appropriate good condition, foxed. Image 25.5 x 18.5 cm (HxW), mount, behind glass, framed, frame slightly bumped, overall size 56.5 x 48 cm (HxW) Saverio Manetti (1723-1785), a physician and botanist in Florence, published the five-volume „Storia naturale degli uccelli“ with the parallel Latin title „Ornithologia methodice digesta“ between 1767 and 1776. Supported by Maria Luisa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the work appeared at the Stamperia Moückiana and comprises 600 hand-coloured engraved plates; they were engraved by Lorenzo Lorenzi and Violante Vanni, and the first volume is dedicated to Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo. In „Fine Bird Books“ Sacheverell Sitwell counts the work among the most important bird books of all. The individual plates are dedicated to patrons and personalities of the Florentine circle.