Jacques Barraband Le Touraco géant
Jacques Barraband (1767–1809), Schizorhis cristatus (Le Touraco géant)
Handcolored Engraving, Annotated No. 19 in pencil lower right
This striking handcolored engraving by Jacques Barraband represents the Schizorhis cristatus, commonly known as the Great Blue Turaco. Created for François Levaillant’s ornithological publications in the early nineteenth century, it exemplifies Barraband’s mastery in rendering exotic birds with both scientific accuracy and painterly grace.
The present sheet bears manuscript notes identifying the species (“Le Touraco géant”) and cross-referencing Buffon, whose Histoire naturelle remained a touchstone for naming and classification. As with the Turacus persa, the engraving was printed without the usual plate inscriptions at the bottom, suggesting that it too originated as a workshop proof or early impression rather than a bound volume plate. The coloring is exceptionally deep and velvety, capturing the dark crest, brilliant blues, and rich chestnut of the plumage with remarkable intensity.
Barraband’s plates for Levaillant are among the most beautiful bird illustrations ever produced, and impressions such as this — lacking printed captions and enhanced with vivid handcoloring — provide valuable insight into the studio practices that underpinned their creation.
Jacques Barraband was the preeminent French ornithological artist of the early nineteenth century. Trained as a painter and engraver, he worked at the Manufacture de Sèvres and exhibited at the Paris Salon before gaining renown for his extraordinary illustrations of exotic birds. Barraband provided the drawings for François Levaillant’s great natural history publications, including the Histoire naturelle des perroquets (1801–05), Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers (1801–06), and Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (1805–08). His plates, engraved by Langlois, Bouquet, and others, are celebrated for their elegant composition, scientific accuracy, and brilliant handcoloring. Barraband died in Paris in 1809, but his work remains among the most admired achievements in ornithological art.
