Preliminary sketch of "Le tarsier podje"
Overview
This collection contains a single preliminary sketch, labelled “Le tarsier podje [tarsie Duett?] vol 13 des Iles moluques,” done by Jean Baptiste Audebert for his book Histoire naturelle des singes et des makis (1800). The final illustration appears in the book identified as “Le Tarsier / Tarsius Daubentonii.” This sketch was executed largely in watercolor with some body color and ink details.
Dates
- Creation: [between 1797-1800]
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
No access restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.
Biography of Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759-1800)
Jean Baptiste Audebert, a painter by training, also found employment as a book illustrator. Preparation of the plates for a book about beetles (coleopteran) by G.A. Olivier stimulated his interest in accurate drawing of natural history subjects from specimens.
Audebert planned to create his own books about monkeys and birds. He completed sketches of stuffed monkeys in a Paris museum and engraved them for his Histoire naturelle des singes et makis, which was published before his death in 1800. Audebert also left sketches of birds, but they were not engraved, printed, and published until after his death.
Extent
1 folder (1 oversize folder) : Sketch on paper, watercolor with some ink and body color ; Folder measures 49 x 59 cm.
Language of Materials
French
Scope and Contents
The sketch was the model for Audebert’s engraving with its minute rendering of the fine hairs of the monkey’s fur, also visible in the sketch. At the printshop, a skilled inker copied the artist’s colored example and hand inked the plate simultaneously with different colored inks, repeating the process for each print. This intaglio method, known as color printing “à la poupée,” was popular in early 19th-century Paris.
Physical Location
MS Qa43
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, Donald A. Heald, book and print seller, 2020.
Bibliography
- Audebert, Jean Baptiste. Histoire naturelle des singes et des makis (A Francfort, 1799). Available at Ellis Omnia H22
- Audebert, Jean Baptiste. Histoire naturelle des singes et des makis (Paris, 1800). Available at Ellis Omnia H38 and Ellis Omnia H39.
- Title
- Guide to the Jean Baptiste Audebert Collection
- Subtitle
- Preliminary sketch of "Le tarsier podje"
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by ksc, 2020. Finding aid encoded by mwh, 2022.
- Date
- 2022-07-26
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Finding aid written in English.
- Finding aid permalink
- https://hdl.handle.net/10407/6092785545
- Preferred citation
-
Preliminary sketch of "Le tarsier podje," MS Qa43, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas
Repository Details
Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository