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Birds from Diderot's Encylopedia

 

Set of two handcolored engravings, ready to frame in old handpainted french-mats.

These plates were drawn by Francois Nicolas Martinet - one of the most famous bird illustrators of all time - for the Encyclopédie, the great compendium of enlightenment knowledge published during the second half of the 18th Century.

 

Francois Nicolas Martinet ((1731-1790?) created illustrations of birds for books by some of the most influential publications of 18th-century France.

 

The Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers was published in Paris between 1762-1777. A masterpiece of the enlightment, it set out all the knowledge of the day, and was a first attempt to document the techniques of mechanical production for objects used in everyday life. Scholars from around the world, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson submitted chapters.

 

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, and man of letters, and the chief editor of the L'Encyclopédie, one of the principal achievements of the Age of Enlightenment. He was a a friend of the great minds of his age including Goethe, Rousseau, and Hume. A freethinker, Diderot challenged the authority of the Church and criticized the French system of government.

These are fine original engravings on old chainlinked paper. Each engraving measures appoximately: 10 X 15.25 inches

 

 


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