Albatross. Detail of an engraving created in the 1800s for the “Oeuvres complètes de Buffon, augmentées par Cuvier”, published in 29 volumes from 1829 to 1832. This “Complete works” brought the previous century's influential writings by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), on natural history and science to new generations. The engraving in this image was created from a drawing by Madame C. Pillot, wife of Paris-based publisher of the “Complete Works”, F D Pillot.
Detail from an antique engraving. The whole image depicts an albatross with two guillemots. This detail is of the albatross. The engraving was created for the ‘Oeuvres complètes de Buffon, augmentées par Cuvier', published in 29 volumes from 1829 to 1832. This brought the previous century's influential writings by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, on natural history and science to new generations. An albatross is any of more than a dozen species of large seabirds that collectively make up the family Diomedeidae. They are spectacular gliders, able to stay aloft in windy weather for hours without ever flapping their long, narrow wings. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), was a French naturalist remembered for his comprehensive work on natural history. As keeper of the Jardin du Roi (royal botanical garden) in Paris he was charged with cataloguing the royal collections in natural history. He transformed the task into an undertaking to produce an account of the whole of nature, which became his great work, the influential 36-volume 'Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière …’, published between 1749 and 1788. In the case of ‘Oeuvres complètes', Buffon's work was augmented by Frédéric Cuvier (1773-1838), younger brother of the naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832).
Size: 6033px × 6033px
Location: Against plain background
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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