Edouard Traviès

In excellent condition. Some surface dirt at the very edge of the sheet, but otherwise the paper clear and the medium very strong and fresh.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Traviès was one of the foremost natural history artists of his time, contemporary with John James Audubon. He is particularly well-known because of the illustrations he provided for important books devoted to ornithology and hunting, such as Orbigny's Les Oiseaux des îles Canaries et de Cuba, Demidoff's Voyages en Russie and Buffon's Histoire naturelle...des mammifères et des oiseaux....  He published several series of lithographs under his own name, including Musée de chasseur, La vénerie, Souvenirs de Chasse, Les oiseaux les plus remarquables...  and La Chasse.

This drawing, showing a curlew suspended from a nail against a panel of carved wood, is in the tradition of  eighteenth-century trophy designs. A large number of drawings by Traviès were in the collection of Marcel Jeanson and were in sales from his collection held Monaco, Sotheby's, 16 June 1988, London, Sotheby's, 13 December 1996, and Paris, Drouot-Richelieu, 25 November 2005. Compositions similar to the present were in all the sales.