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. La Barge gris, a colored print by Martinet, depicts a godwit, also known as a greenshank or barking barge. Commissioned as the eight hundred seventy-sixth plate for Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, La Barge gris was printed between 1770 and 1786, though its realistic color was added later by an unknown colorist. Martinet subtly delineates the godwit's neck in an s-shaped curve, cleverly constraining the composition with a pleasing aesthetic. A measured bar along the top suggests the scale of the figure, while the tree stump allows the viewer to envision the godwit in its natural habitat.
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