The World's First Depiction of a King Penguin

[King Pinquin] Aptenody tes, Patagonica (sic)

A rare original hand coloured copper plate engraving depicting a standing King Penguin (Aptenodytes Patagonica ) being Plate XXIII, of the 41 illustrations by John Frederick Miller, for Miller and George Shaw Cimelia Physica. London 1796 Figures of the Most Rare and Curious Quadrupeds, Birds etc. London 1796.

In many cases these are the first illustrations of the species and are therefore considered rare and now highly collectable.

This elegant, very topical - thanks to the current movie, original handcoloured 1796 copper engraving, is presented in a museum matted, glazed, embossed wood frame and would a great addition to any collection, or as decoration for a student or historian's study or even a very lucky child's bedroom.

Frame 27 1/2 x 21 1/2" (Ref.TB2 /VLN/d. anng> OOL )

            

Rare Bird Images by
Robert Hainard   

1. Long - eared Owl
Number 43/65 inscribed within image: Valais 13 June 1947 206.48.     
Image size 10 3/4 X 14”        

2. Herring Gulls
 Number 12/60 inscribed within image:  Duntulm, Isle of Skye 2 Juillet 1963       
Image size 10 3/4 X 13 3/4”   

RARE. Two limited edition, Colour woodcuts on Japanese paper. Both signed & dated within plate and also signed Robert Hainard, below plate in graphite (bottom left).
Both are fine art limited edition prints in the great European tradition of Ornithology, and would make a fine addition to any collection.

Robert Hainard (1906-1999), Swiss artist and writer, became interested in animals and wildlife at an early age. Apart from making hundreds of prints, thousands of drawings, Hainard was also a wildlife activist who wrote several articles on the preservation of nature. He also travelled through the remotest parts of Europe in search of rare living species, e.g. in 1958 when he sought for wild cats in Yugoslavia. Honoured with numerous exhibitions all over Europe including 1947, on the occasion of the 127th meeting of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences, the Museum of Geneva exhibited all engravings by Robert Hainard acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts.
Robert Hainard is one of the best loved 20th century artists in Switzerland, especially among the active conservationist and environmental movement in this country.
The son of two artists, he began to draw animals at an early age. Inspired by Japanese prints, he experimented with woodblock print making, and developed a unique technique which he continued to use throughout this career. His devotion to the preservation of the animals and birds he depicted and their habitats made him a forerunner of the ecology movement. In 1969, the University of Geneva presented him with an honorary doctoral degree in science.
Hainard once explained to an interviewer "When I see an animal, I become that animal. I participate in its movements with it, and it is in the memory of my own muscles, even more than my visual memory, that I can capture that movement."

Ref. DB 3&2 /ENNea/ a.ns > SNN ea.      PRICE CODE D