Nicolas HUET (Paris 1770-1828) - Lot 80

Nicolas HUET (Paris 1770-1828) Broad-tailed tropicbird (see Op. cit. supra vol II, reproduced pl. 516) Bearded vulture (see Op. cit. supra, vol IV, reproduced pl. 431) Pale blackbird Three drawings, watercolor. 38 x 24 cm and 48 x 34 cm Signed lower left huët. Also known as Huët le Jeune, Nicolas Huët was the son of Jean-Baptiste Huët. He specialized in animal paintings. In 1804, he was appointed painter to the Museum of Natural History and Joséphine's Menagerie. He exhibited at various Salons until 1827. He mainly produced watercolors of animals, most of which were published or sold to private collectors. Swiss-born Jean-Gabriel Prêtre also worked for Empress Josephine and the Museum of Natural History. Throughout his life, Prêtre illustrated numerous ornithological works. The two artists, working in the same capacity, often collaborated. These drawings were intended to illustrate the Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux, to serve as a sequel and complement to Buffon's illuminated plates based on the drawings of Messrs Huet and Prêtre, painters attached to the Natural History Museum, and to the grand ouvrage de la commission d'Egypte, a five-volume work published in Paris in 1838 by C. J. Temminck and Baron Meiffren Laugier de Chartrouse.