A rare complete set of two antique prints showing in great detail the famous Magnificent Bird of Paradise, two males. Published in Paris France in the year 1835 (first edition) in "Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux De Paradis" (Natural History Of Birds Of Paradise), the first and most comprehensive work on birds of paradise entitled until John Gould's great monograph started appearing 20 years later. By René Primevère LESSON (1794-1849), a surgeon, pharmacist, naturalist on the round-the-world scientific voyage of the corvette La Coquille (1822-1825), led by Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont D'URVILLE (1790-1842) and Louis-Isidore DUPERREY (1786-1865).
The magnificent bird-of-paradise is distributed amongst the hill and mid-mountain forests of New Guinea and surrounding islands. Like most members of the family Paradisaeidae, the male is polygamous and performs an elaborate courtship display. The generic name Cicinnurus means "curled tail" and its specific name magnificus means magnificent or splendid. The species was formerly listed in the genus Diphyllodes, which means "Double leaf-like", referring to its "leaf-like" tail. As the name suggests, the magnificent bird-of-paradise is magnificent indeed. It has one of the most complex plumage arrangements in the family Paradisaeidae. It reaches around 26–26.5 cm in total length, though the body is around 19 cm. The male has beautiful golden-yellow wings, which are overlapped by a sulfur-colored mantle, or cape, that deflect white a whitish glow, with deep red feathers bordered by black beneath the cape that form a semi-circle over the wings; there are also scruffy brownish feathers on the sides of the cape. The birds feed mainly on fruits, but also feed on animal matter (notably insects, reptiles, and amphibians), and possibly take nectar and flowers. They mainly feed solitarily, but may also feed in mixed-species congregations.
The courtship display of the male is very unique in its family. It typically takes place on a sapling standing up from the ground. He commonly tends to his court and makes sure it stays clean and clear of fallen debris. When a female attends his court, he is usually on his display perch. Here is where he does his display; he leans backwards to point where his body is perpendicular to the sapling, raises his mantle cape, to where it appears like a yellow halo behind his head, expands and flexes his iridescent breast shield, and waggles his sickle-shaped tail on each side. Though this performance is comical, it is often observed by many females nearby, who do not take the male mating with the core audience member too lightly. When the male is about to copulate the core female, other females nearby will spring from their perches to attack and shoe off the female, and the male is discouraged and may have to wait a while to perform again.
LESSON studied these birds in their natural habitat during the expedition and was the first European to observe birds of paradise alive in the wild and was the first to describe a Bird of Paradise in flight when the voyage visited New Guinea in 1824. He brought back numerous specimens from the Australia, Moluccas and New Guinea. The voyage concentrated on the exploration of the Pacific Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, Polynesia and South America. His classic monograph on these birds includes a synopsis of species with descriptions and synonymies and a treatment of each, at least 4 of which were new to European science.
A hand-finished engraved plate, heightened with gum arabic by Paul Louis OUDART (1796-1860) and Jean Gabriel PRÊTRE (1768-1849). Each illustration is numbered and signed by the illustrators. Like Redouté, OUDART was a pupil of the celebrated Dutch master Gerard van Spaendonck, and 'one of the outstanding French illustrators and bird painters' (Jackson op. cit p.382). He began exhibiting ornithological paintings at the Salon in 1819. PRÊTRE, worked at Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris and provided the plates for many of the important French natural history works published in the first half of the 19th century: as Anker notes, 'these works were illustrated in accordance with the highest requirements of the time by artists such as J.G. Prêtre'.
Colour-printed engraving with hand-colouring, this print effortlessly captures the exotic beauty of one of the most spectacular of all Birds of Paradise. These almost 200 year old prints are much sought after by collectors of these amazing birds and very suitable for framing.
