A Set of Four Seligmann Engravings of Waterbirds after Edwards, Circa 1755-65 These beautiful bird engraving with original hand colouring are within a hand-made decoupage frame with a light aqua blue ground with decoupage sea-shell panels. Dimensions: 17 1/2 inches high x 14 1/2 inches In 1749, German publisher Johann Michael Seligmann began to issue a nine-volume compilation of the work of renowned British naturalists Mark Catesby (1683-1749) and George Edwards (1694-1773). Over the next thirty years, the gradual release of these eagerly anticipated volumes brought vivid, charming images of New World birds to continental European audiences and made Seligmann a venerated name in natural history circles.(http://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/catesby/catesby.html) ;Edwards was, like Catesby, one of the pioneers of natural history documentation and is known as the "Father of British Ornithology." His marvelous A Natural History of Birds (London: 1743-51) was produced almost single-handedly: Edwards not only wrote the text for the book but also made the drawings, etched the plates and hand colored the prints to be bound in each volume. Seligmann began issuing his ambitious series just a few years after Edwards and Catesby published their works. The text was translated into German, and Seligmann produced all new plates based on the images of the two Englishmen. In bringing these masterworks to the continental audience, Seligmann has earned himself a place in natural history circles, and his charming prints, reflecting well on their sources, stand as another respected source for 18th-century natural history documentation. (https://www.theantiquarium.com/catalog/author/seligmann.htm)

Art (paintings, prints, frames)
Animals