Tordo dell´ antida specie de volgarm: Tordela Gazzina….

Title

Tordo dell´ antida specie de volgarm: Tordela Gazzina….

Description

Representation of a song thrush. They come from the book ;Manetti, Saverio,ORNITHOLOGIA METHODICE DIGESTA ATQUE ICONIBUS AENEIS AD VIVUM ILLUMINATIS ORNATA (STORIA NATURALE DEGLI UCCELLI).

ca. 1760

Artist

Manetti

Manetti, Saviero. Publisher: Giuseppe Vanni ,, Florenz, Italien : 1766 From the natural history of birds, which were systematically treated and adorned with miniature and life-size engraved images, 1766-1777. According to Peter Dance, the work has an interesting historical significance: the production of its five massive folio volumes must have been one of the most remarkable publishing companies ever undertaken in Florence. Started in 1767 and based on birds from the Giovanni Gerini collection, it was completed ten years later. It was larger, better engraved, and more vividly colored than any previous work on birds, but that is not the only claim to fame. The attitudes of the birds themselves give this book its unique character. Strutting, showing off, posing and occasionally flying. These are birds whose real counterparts they would certainly deny, and not without reason, because in these pictures Manetti seems to represent human comedy, the habits and mannerisms of contemporary Italian society. His book can still be counted among the greatest bird books, if only because of its great comedy.