Female phalanger possum or Phalanger Femelle. Engraving created in 1700s for French naturalist, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), from a drawing by French wildlife artist, Jacques Henri E. De Sève (). The engraving appeared in Buffon’s influential work on natural history, the 36-volume 'Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière …’, published between 1749 and 1788. This illustration, later coloured by hand, comes from the rare 1780 French edition of the ‘Histoire’.
This image of a female phalanger possum is an original hand-coloured 18th century engraving by the French wildlife artist and illustrator, Jacques Henri E. De Sève. It was created for the influential 36-volume 'Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière …’, published by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, between 1749 and 1788. This page, later tinted skilfully by hand, comes from the rare 1780 edition of the 'Histoire'. Possums are marsupials, that is mammals characterized by premature birth and continued development of the newborn while attached to the nipples on the mother's lower belly. Phalanger (from the Greek phalangion, meaning spider's web, from their webbed toes) is a genus of possums. Phalangers, sometimes called cuscuses, are native to New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, other nearby small islands, Australia and Tasmania and are quite distinct from the opossum possum, which is native to the Americas. All phalangers are herbivorous. Jacques Henri E. De Sève () is one of the most influential natural history artists of all time. He created hundreds of animal images, many of which now seem fantastical, but an interesting feature is his inclusion of wildlife habitats; he did not merely depict animals, but rather placed them in an appropriate environment. His work was widely copied in engravings by others for later editions of Buffon's books. Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), was a French naturalist remembered for his comprehensive work on natural history. He was appointed keeper of the Jardin du Roi (royal botanical garden) in Paris and charged with cataloguing the royal collections in natural history. He produced an account of the whole of nature, which became the 'Histoire’.
Size: 7889px × 10620px
Location: In natural habitat
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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